Robert De Niro Opens Up About Leg Injury While On Location For New Scorsese Movie: ‘The Pain Was Excrutiating’

Robert De Niro has been sidelined by an injury while filming his latest movie, “Killers of the Flower Moon”.

Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film has been shooting on location in Oklahoma, with TMZ reporting that De Niro injured his leg on Thursday; he was reportedly not on the movie’s set at the time the injury occurred.

According to sources on the production, De Niro caught a flight on Thursday evening to New York, and was seen by his doctor the following day.

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“The extent of the injury is unclear,” TMZ shared at the time.

In a new statement from De Niro’s publicist, the group confirms his injury.

“While at his on-location home in OK for the filming of Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, Robert De Niro injured his quadriceps muscle which will be treated medically in New York,” the statement shared on Twitter read. “It will not affect production, he was not scheduled to film again for another 3 weeks.”

While at his on-location home in OK for the filming of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Robert De Niro injured his quadriceps muscle which will be treated medically in New York. It will not affect production, he was not scheduled to film again for another 3 weeks.

— Rosenfield Media Group PR (@RosenfieldMG) May 14, 2021

In a subsequent interview with IndieWire, De Niro explained the extent of his injury, and how it happened.

“I tore my quad somehow,” he said. “It’s just a simple stepping over something and I just went down. The pain was excruciating and now I have to get it fixed. But it happens, especially when you get older, you have to be prepared for unexpected things. But it’s manageable.”

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Luckily, he added, his injured leg probably won’t be affecting further filming on the new movie, in which he plays cattleman William Hale.

“What I’m doing with Scorsese in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ I’m pretty much a sedentary character in a way. I don’t move around a lot, thank god,” he said.

“So we’ll manage,” De Niro added. “I just have to get the procedure done and keep it straight in a certain position and let it heal.”