ABC/Lou Rocco(NEW YORK) — Leslie Mann feels “so lucky” to have worked alongside legendary actor Robert De Niro in their new film, The Comedian.“He sent me flowers every day. He talked about how he thought I was a better actress than Meryl Streep all the time,” she joked on Good Morning America, to the already bashful De Niro’s embarrassment. “No, it it was amazing.”
The two co-star in the new movie, The Comedian, about an aging comic icon, played by De Niro, who gets into a fight with an audience member and is sent to do community service where he meets a younger woman, played by Mann.
Although De Niro has had to master many skills for complex roles in the past, he said learning and performing standup comedy is “very, very hard.”
“It’s just not easy. I did the best I could,” he said, adding that Mann’s husband, Judd Apatow, a successful director and comedian, was extremely helpful in the process, and gave pointers to The Comedian‘s director Taylor Hackford.
“Her husband is a wonderful comedian and director, and very funny guy, and smart,” said De Niro. “He was helpful with us with the movie in giving us ideas about what to do and how to punch up the comedy in the re-shoots and stuff. But it’s not easy.”
The Comedian hits theaters Friday.
