DeNiro couldn’t wing it? He had to read the copy in front of him, and sound like he’s reading it?

One thing he could’ve said is that Dr. Strangelove isn’t a traditional “comedy” as much as a brainy suspense thriller that’s angled toward apocalyptic, ultra-dry satire and flavored with eccentric performances.

Oh, and “gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room!” was never that great of a line.

A much better one: “I first became aware of flouridation, Mandrake, during the physical act of love. A profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence. I can assure you it has not recurred. Women sense my power, and they seek the life essence. I do not avoid women, Mandrake, but I do deny them my essence.”

Please notice the rustic woodwork in DeNiro’s office. Recorded inside a nice home in some rural area. Decor-wise it could’ve been shot inside DeNiro’s Greenwich hotel, which I’ve visited two or three times.

And what’s with the beard? Isn’t DeNiro currently portraying cattleman and convicted murderer William Hale in Martin Scorsese‘s 1920s-era Killers of the Flower Moon? (Pic may or may not be on hiatus due to the coronavirus lockdown but still.) Hale was clean shaven.