'We knew each other when we were teenagers': Robert De Niro reflects on his 50-year-old bond with pal Martin Scorsese

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Robert De Niro’s friendship with Martin Scorsese has grown with each passing year in the last 50 years.

The actor and director recently teamed up for the hit movie ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ along with Leonardo DiCaprio, taking their collaboration to 10 feature movies.

“I’ve always said, [I’m] very lucky to have started working with Marty in my late 20s and done all these projects together,” said De Niro, referring to ‘Mean Streets’.

“We knew each other when we were teenagers,” the actor said about growing up in New York City, but their acquaintance didn’t turn into friendship immediately.

Robert De Niro reveals how friendship with Martin Scorsese began

De Niro recalled, “We finally met at Christmas dinner years later and I saw Who's That Knocking [at My Door], and I said, ‘That was a really terrific movie.’” 

“He said, ‘I have the script.’ And Mean Streets was at that time called Season of the Witch, and so that's how it started,” per People.

The duo made major successful flicks, including 'Taxi Driver', 'New York', 'Raging Bull', 'The King of Comedy', 'Goodfellas', 'Cape Fear', 'Casino', 'The Irishman', and 'Killers of the Flower Moon'.

“I always say this, he's good with everyone. He allows people to do what they can do best and then he'll direct from there,” said De Niro.

He further continued, “He has very clear ideas but knows not to impose anything and let the people just feel free enough to be expressed as much as they can through whatever they're doing.”

Martin Scorsese talks about bond with Robert

Martin Scorsese talked about his actor friend and said, “When Bob commits to a role, he starts digging in with research, questions about absolutely everything, from what the character wears to what he eats for breakfast.”

“The search and the discoveries never stop. He really did fall in love with the language as he went along — at one point, he said that he wanted to do most of his lines in Osage!” he continued.

The filmmaker talked about what makes his relationship with De Niro special, "At this point, I treasure the sheer longevity, the shared experience and knowledge. The trust. The love. And also, the desire to explore together, to go further.”