Hollywood star Robert De Niro called former US president Donald Trump as a "stupid" man during the Cannes Film Festival press conference for 'Killers of the Flower Moon'.
He compared the former president to the twisted power player he portrays in Martin Scorsese's crime epic, which premiered recently, reports 'Variety'.
De Niro admitted that he struggled to connect with William Hale, saying: "I don't understand a lot about my character. Part of him is sincere. The other part, where he's betraying (the Osage tribe), there's a feeling of entitlement. We became a lot more aware (of that dichotomy) after George Floyd with systemic racism."
As per 'Variety', De Niro drew parallels between his character and Donald Trump, whose name the actor initially refused to say out loud at the press conference.
"That guy is stupid," he said of the former president. Lily Gladstone, who stars as Osage tribe member Mollie Burkhart, pointed out that Osage members still attended the funeral of William Hale, in denial about his involvement in the brutal murders of tribe members.
De Niro, again, evoked Trump in response to that kind of blind loyalty to evil men.
"There are people who still think he can do a good job. Imagine how insane that is."
In the case of 'Killers of the Flower Moon', Scorsese's long-time collaborator DiCaprio praised the director's ability to capture that kind of banality of evil. "What Marty does so incredibly well is he's able to expose the humanity of even the most twisted, sinister characters you could ever imagine."
'Killers of the Flower Moon' one of the starriest movies to play at this year's Cannes Film Festival, tells the story of the murders that took place in the early 1920s after major oil deposits were discovered on the Osage tribe's land. It also depicts how the newly formed FBI investigated the killings.
