‘Banality of Evil’: Robert De Niro Compares His Latest Film Character to Donald Trump

Robert De Niro slammed Donald Trump on Sunday, comparing the former president to his own most recent character — a devious murderer— in an upcoming true crime drama.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival in France Sunday, De Niro pointed out similarities between Trump and his character, William Hale, whom he plays in Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," which premiered the previous night.

"I don't understand a lot about him," the actor said of Hale, a real-life American cattleman who rose to prominence as a power player in an Oklahoma Native reservation through extortion and murder, Variety reported. He died in 1962

"He has to be charming, he has to win people over. Part of him is sincere. It's just the other part ... there's a feeling of entitlement," said De Niro.

"It's the banality of evil," he added, speaking of both Hale and Trump.
"It's the thing that we have to watch out for. And we see it today, of course, with — we all know who I'm going to talk about, but I won't say the name."

"That guy is stupid," the actor added, referring to he-who-should-not-be-named.  

But De Niro did finally name Trump when he was asked about Hale's ability to crookedly gain the trust of some members of the Native community.

"I mean, look, with Trump, there are people who think that he could do a good job. Imagine that; how insane that is," the actor said.

"Killers of the Flower Moon" is based on the 2017 book of the same name by David Grann. It also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser and John Lithgow.