(video of him signing at bottom of text)
Robert De Niro signing the portrait
The portrait before the signature, with that enigmatic smile!
Robert De Niro signing my portrait amongst of the hundreds of fans.
(Notice the Al Pacino portrait held behind it! Very special to get both signed in one day)
A local TV station filming me waiting for Robert De Niro
A TV reporter interviewing me about my portraits
Robert De Niro
Painted in September 2008
Acrylic on canvas - 30 inch x 24 inch
Sold to a client in Singapore
Autographed by Robert in September 2008
I met Robert De Niro at the premiere of his film 'Righteous Kill' in London, September 2008.
My passion is also acting and Robert De Niro is one of the greatest film actors of all time and an inspiration to me. The chance to meet him, even for a moment is very rare. Plus, he was appearing at the premiere alongside another of the greatest ever, Al Pacino. So I painted portraits of both of them, dreaming of the opportunity to get two of the most coveted signatures in one day.
I left home in Dorset about 6am travelled up to London, arriving at Leicester Square at 11am.
A carried the portraits in an art case and when I arrived a local TV company, reporting on the premiere, interviewed me about the portraits (see the photos below left).
I waited with the crowd for 6 hours, and at 5pm Robert De Niro and Al Pacino arrived. There were hundreds of excited fans calling for their autographs.
I held my both portraits over the barrier, hoping he would spot me. Both portraits held back to back so I could turn it around quickly for which ever actor came to me first. With a camera hung around my chest to film the moment, he came over and signed a large signature across the portrait.
The irony was, the painting took over 30 hours of very concentrated work and for some time, I struggled to capture his enigmatic smile, it took me many attempts to get it perfect, studying the photo I was working from closely, and eventually I realised the key to the smile was a small kink in the left hand corner of his mouth, once I painted that, Robert De Niro magically appeared on the canvas!
However, when he signed his lovely big signature, his pen went directly over the precise area I had worked so hard to get perfect! (see the portrait before the signing below left).
He didn’t speak or give any reaction to the painting but it was still a very special moment to have this brief interaction with him.
Below is the film of Robert De Niro signing the portrait.
