Robert De Niro‘s upcoming dark comedy The Comedian got it’s first trailer. De Niro stars as “a once-edgy Don Rickles-like stand-up named Jackie Burke. After a successful but safe run on a television sitcom, Jackie charts his haphazard return to the insult-comedy boards.”
The Comedian is directed by Taylor Hackford and this is what he said about the film in an interview with EW:
“I saw the movie as a dark drama with some comedy, but then we tested it with an audience, and they really laughed hard. So better to call it a dark comedy with drama.”
Cast includes Danny DeVito and Patti LuPone as Jackie’s brother and sister-in-law; Edie Falco as his harried business manager; Leslie Mann as his romantic interest; Harvey Keitel as her father; and Billy Crystal as himself.
The Comedian hits theaters on January 13th.
Synopsis:
An aging comic icon, Jackie (Robert De Niro), has seen better days. Despite his efforts to reinvent himself and his comic genius, the audience only wants to know him as the former television character he once played. Already a strain on his younger brother (Danny DeVito) and his wife (Patti LuPone), Jackie is forced to serve out a sentence doing community service for accosting an audience member. While there, he meets Harmony (Leslie Mann), the daughter of a sleazy Florida real estate mogul (Harvey Keitel), and the two find inspiration in one another, resulting in surprising consequences.
