‘The Alto Knights‘, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert De Niro in a double role, he arrives at Spanish cinemas next Friday. The film transports the spectators to the New York from the mid -twentieth century to … narrate the complex relationship between two key figures of organized crime: Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, both interpreted by De Niro. In their youth they were inseparable friends, united by an unwritten code of honor, but their personal ambitions and their diametrically opposite way of understanding power led them to an inevitable confrontation that would change forever not only the structure of the mafia in the United States, but the way in which the forces of the order, until then renewed to admit the existence of an organized crime at the national level, would begin to fight it.
At 93, energy, smile and the illusion of the producer Irwin Winkler They fill the London hotel room where he receives ABC to talk about his latest movie, ‘The Alto Knights‘, a film that, far from being a mere exercise of cinematographic nostalgia, represents for him a retrospective and critical look at the world of organized crime and its implications in American society. With a career that encompasses immortal decades and titles such as ‘Rocky’ and ‘One of ours’, Winkler demonstrates once again that it is still a tireless narrator, passionate about finding new ways of telling stories that capture the essence of the characters, moral dilemmas and power structures.
For Winkler, the fascination with the figure of Costello dates back to his youth in New York, when he discovered that this gangster did not fit into the archetype of the brutal and rude gánster that Hollywood had immortalized in his films. «I was always struck by Costello because it was not like the gangsters that I saw in my childhood, those hard guys played by James Cagney and George Raftwith gabardines and guns at the waist, ”he recalls with enthusiasm. «Costello was different. He wore custom -made costumes, lived in a luxurious apartment in Central Park, attended the great charity events and was married to a Jewish woman, something unthinkable for an Italian Gánster of the time. I seemed fascinating his ambiguity, his ability to move between two worlds, that of the elite and that of crime ».
One of ours
The film script was written by Nicholas Pileggithe legendary journalist and screenwriter behind ‘one of ours’, whose knowledge about organized crime is, according to Winkler. «Nick was a reporter in Associated Press, he has been investigating these guys for decades, talking to them, understanding how their minds work. No one in New York knows more about the mafia than him, ”he says. «Originally we were going to focus only on Costello, but Barry proposed to expand the focus and include Genovese’s perspective, showing that clash of styles that defines the story: on the one hand, Costello, who wants to be a man of influence, maintain peace, play two bands with politics and crime; on the other, Genovese, who embraces his identity as a mafia without regrets. There is a line in the movie in which he says: ‘I am a gánster, that is what I do and I like it.’
One of the most commented aspects of ‘The Alto Knights’ has been the decision that De Niro interpreted both roles, something that has generated controversy and some skepticism among some critics. “Look, anything that is different generates resistance,” says Winkler with a smile that denotes years of experience dealing with his detractors. «There are critics who see it as an act of vanity, as if Niro would like to demonstrate that it is irreplaceable in the era of artificial intelligence and digital effects. But it is not a matter of ego, but of narrative. I don’t think we would have achieved the same emotional intensity with two different actors. Moreover, some people who have seen the film told me that they took to realize that he was the same actor in both roles, which is a testimony of the incredible work that Niro has done.
Beyond the technique, the film explores the fascination that the public still has for the stories of gangsters. “There has always been a kind of romanticism around the mafia, because many of these men came from poor immigrant families, without access to education, without real opportunities to socially ascend,” says Winkler. «Some became doctors, lawyers or teachers; Others, in criminals. But the cinema has presented them many times as almost heroic figures, rebels fighting the system to take a place in the world ».
The lovely gangster
And although ‘The Alto Knights‘It continues, in some way, that tradition, also demystifies the myth of the lovely gangster. “The difference with ‘one of ours’ or ‘the godfather’ is that here we see a turning point of organized crime when the FBI acknowledges that there is a network of mafia, which are not isolated cases.”
But, in essence, what really is ‘The Alto Knights’? Winkler is clear: «It’s a movie about ambition. About commitment. Of people who come from very difficult circumstances and how they want to succeed, and all the problems that can arise with it. And it is about the friendship that becomes tension, which can be destroyed ».
With his inexhaustible passion for cinema, Winkler makes it clear that he does not plan to retire. “I don’t know how to do anything else and I don’t want to learn,” he jokes. “My children and now my grandson work with me, we continue making films because we love telling stories.”
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