Robert De Niro, who plays both Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, presented Barry Levinson’s The Alto Knights at its European premiere at Curzon Mayfair.
Barry Levinson’s The Alto Knights held its European premiere at Curzon Mayfair on Thursday 13 March 2025. Robert De Niro, who plays both of the film’s rival bosses, led the carpet with Debra Messing.
De Niro was born in Manhattan in 1943 to two painters, and studied with Stella Adler. Mean Streets began his partnership with Martin Scorsese in 1973.
He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II. Raging Bull, as Jake LaMotta, brought him Best Actor. In 2002 he co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival.
Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote Goodfellas and Casino with Scorsese, wrote the screenplay. It follows Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, who rose together through the New York underworld, and the 1957 attempt on Costello’s life that ended their friendship.
De Niro plays both men with make-up and prosthetics. Messing plays Costello’s wife, Bobbie.
Rain Man won Levinson the Academy Award for Best Director. Irwin Winkler, whose credits include Rocky and Raging Bull, produced the film, and Warner Bros. released it in British cinemas on 21 March.