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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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090489
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09048900.001
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1990-09-22
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BUSINESS, Page 52If He Can Make It Here . . .
Will the film business be ruled only by foreign moguls and
domestic megastudios? Not if Robert De Niro can help it. The
reclusive, renegade actor is betting his money and his reputation
that he can deliver a convincing performance as a real-life film
producer. De Niro's previous experience as a boss has been confined
to playing characters ranging from Don Corleone in The Godfather,
Part II to a film mogul in The Last Tycoon. But this year the
46-year-old Manhattan native became president of his own movie
company, New York City's TriBeCa Productions, which already has ten
film projects in early stages of development. In September, De Niro
will open the TriBeCa Film Center, an eight-story converted coffee
factory near the Hudson River that will house his production
company and offer space to other independent filmmakers.
De Niro decided to go into business so that he could try his
hand at directing and producing. "I never had the full
responsibility for a film before and never wanted it. But now I
do," he told a reporter. "Ultimately, it's to have control."
For his headquarters, De Niro chose an 83-year-old red brick
building situated in TriBeCa, a trendy downtown neighborhood where
he lives. De Niro, who will have 50% ownership in the building, is
supervising a renovation that will leave in place industrial
details like the giant coffee scales in his office. But the
building's advanced features will include a 70-seat screening room
designed by director George Lucas' production company.
The atmosphere at TriBeCa will be a far cry from that of the
big studios. "We're more relaxed," says Jane Rosenthal, a CBS and
Walt Disney veteran hired by De Niro as his executive vice
president. "My two dogs come to work with me." There will also be
some indulgences at the film center. One will be the TriBeCa Bar
and Grill, a restaurant that De Niro is opening with financial
investments from such pals as Sean Penn, Bill Murray and Mikhail
Baryshnikov. De Niro's new Hollywood-on-the-Hudson may be an
upstart, but it will not suffer for lack of connections.