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Leonardo DiCaprio jetted out to the Cannes Film Festival in France to present his co-star, friend, and iconic Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro with an honorary Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival’s opening ceremony.
While presenting Robert De Niro with the award, Leonardo DiCaprio credited “Bob” with changing his life as he hand-picked him to be his co-star in the 1993 film This Boy’s Life, which was the Oscar winner’s first lead role in a feature film.
This Boy’s Life is one of two films the pair have starred in together alongside Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
“The audition process was a tough one. There’s lots of competition. None of us knew who would get the part. And at 15 or 16 years old, I did the only thing I could think to stand out: I screamed at him at the top of my lungs. The room burst into laughter. Later that day, as the story goes, Bob was getting on his plane with a producer, [who] asked, ‘Who do you want to play the part?’ And in classic De Niro fashion, he replied, ‘Second kid from the last,’” DiCaprio recalled.
“Luckily, that second kid was me. And that moment changed my life forever, started my entire career in the world of cinema.”
“That’s the thing about Bob. He doesn’t say much, but when he does, it matters. Whether it’s for his friends, his family, fighting for our democracy, or supporting the art of filmmaking, he shows up,” DiCaprio continued
When taking to the microphone to accept the award, Robert De Niro thanked DiCaprio for being there for him on such an important night and sweetly called him “kid” right before the pair shared a hug.
Here are further excerpts from DiCaprio’s speech about De Niro.
“Now, if you know Bob, and I think many of you in this room do, you know he’s not someone who particularly enjoys being in the spotlight off camera. I’m lucky, I’ll get a nod from him tonight, maybe even a half smile. And I would take that as a standing ovation.”
“And every once in a while, even the most private giants deserves their moment, a moment to be acknowledged, not just for their work, but for the quiet lasting influence they’ve had on so many lives. On my life. So without trying to speak for the entire world of cinema here tonight, but probably doing it anyway, there is no one more deserving of this Palm d’Or lifetime achievement award than Mr. Robert De Niro. Congratulations.”
At the #CannesFilmFestival Leonardo DiCaprio speaks about Robert De Niro before presenting him with honorary Palme d’Or pic.twitter.com/E0MwbSN7lk
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 13, 2025
Later this year, DiCaprio will be seen starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, while the still ever-busy 82-year-old De Niro recently starred in the film The Alto Knights and the Netflix series Zero Day.
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