He also makes for an interesting double lead in The Alto Knights, which in some eyes might be a gimmick, but from the perspective of collaborators like Winkler—who also produced Goodfellas as well as other De Niro standards like Raging Bull and The Irishman—it was the only natural direction to take.

“When Bob was thinking of playing Costello, he asked me specifically who I thought could play Vito Genovese,” Winkler remembers. “And my instinct was that nobody could play it better than Bob. If he said he wanted to play Genovese, we would then look for another Costello.”

It was certainly a unique proposition, but one that the actor initially admits to having his share of doubts about.

“In the beginning there was a hesitancy because it was unexpected,” De Niro says. “I said, ‘Well, easier said than done. Let’s think about this for a minute.’” After taking a few days to consider the prospect of playing dual roles at this stage in his career, and speaking about it with director and friend Levinson, the star came back and said he was willing to go for it.

“It’s something to try,” De Niro muses. “I’ve not done it before and it also adds to the reason, the justification of my doing another gangster film, even though I’m doing it with everybody I know so well and worked many times with, and I’d probably do it the other way too. But this is even better.”

As it stands, he admits that Costello, the role De Niro originally was attracted to, is perhaps the savvier character. He’s certainly “the diplomat.” But all things being even, Genovese was more delicious for the star: “With the Vito character, he’s a hothead, he’s more fun to play, he’s more explosive, impulsive.”