Over the course of his long and varied career, Robert De Niro has worked with many actors, from up-and-coming faces to established icons. He has appeared alongside everyone from Al Pacino and Meryl Streep to Jennifer Lawrence and Paul Dano, encountering a diverse and wide-ranging selection of stars.

When the actor entered the industry, he quickly worked his way up to the highest ranks of fame as he dominated the New Hollywood era with performances in films such as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, and The Godfather Part II. De Niro represented a new generation of stars, ones who weren’t afraid to appear in movies that were subversive, violent, and nihilistic, yet also commercially and critically successful.

As the decades rolled along and cinema began to change, De Niro shifted with these developments, too. Unfortunately, some of De Niro’s choices have been questionable, with the actor going from acclaimed movies like Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Heat to terrible slices of so-called cinema such as New Year’s Eve, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, and Little Fockers.

What happened to De Niro’s acting choices? We can’t be too sure. The actor has starred in some truly abysmal movies over the past few decades, seemingly harnessing a somewhat carefree attitude – perhaps he thought that with a long list of masterpieces under his belt, he could make room for some less demanding and less well-written roles?

While it would be unfair to say that De Niro has only starred in stinkers in the later years of his career – he did appear in movies like Silver Linings Playbook and The Irishman – there is no excuse for his 2016 movie, Dirty Grandpa.

It was during the filming of the bizarre movie, in which De Niro plays a filthy old man desperate to sleep with women young enough to be his granddaughters that he found himself “freaked out” by one of his co-stars. Of course, that co-star would be Aubrey Plaza, known for her distinctive sense of humour and deadpan persona.

She was told by her agent they’d heard that De Niro was “a little freaked out” by her because of the way she conducted herself during filming, seemingly trying to stay in character as her irresistible and sexually charged character. At a meal for the cast following the shoot, Plaza recalled De Niro wondering who she was – despite the fact that they played lovers in the film. “I showed up, and he’s like, ‘Who are you, sweetheart?’ and after that, he was normal. At first, I think I came on really strong. I did some questionable things I wouldn’t do anymore.”