Y'know who would be great for this...
I realize De Niro is fantastic and I absolutely love him & I realize the correlations this has with the King of Comedy, almost Rupert Pupkin 30 years later and that's a really interesting concept.
But...
I think there's a lot of appropriate actors who could play this, I've already seen it mentioned on the board that actors with a SNL background could be good.
Bill Murray, Billy Crystal - those types would be great.
Naturally there's many great actors to come off SNL live but there not old enough, however I think De Niro could pull this off if he really does works on his 'method' and pulls off some really serious deadpan comedy.
Back to my original point, who would be better as an aging insult comic, shipping Jerry Lewis in would be great and really ironic given his participation in the King of Comedy & he's certainly old enough but for me it has to be the great...
Don Rickles.
a legendary Insult Comic a guy we know can pull of dramatic and comedic roles, he's worked with Scorsese & De Niro before on Casino so i'm sure he could slot right into his production.
You could almost make it like a fictionalized version of Rickles life for example you could get Rickles to play a character (as opposed to himself) but then work in elements of his life like headlining Las Vegas shows, meeting the Rat Pack, appearing on Johnny Carson you could also throw in scenes of him appearing on/guest starring in famous Sitcom's from the 50/60's (possibility to use archive footage) and then work things up to the present day...
I assume that this film is going to be like a glimpse into the life of an aging down on his luck comic, a guy who is washed up & if this is the case it is likely he would be looking back on his life evaluating things so we will get to see lots of his heyday performances (in flashback), personally I think this could be really great.
& Perhaps we could watch him find some inspiration and get out of rut hes been in recently give up the crappy comedy clubs and find his way back into the limelight and this could mirror the ending of the King of Comedy how Rupert ends up on the Jerry Langford show (and after prison) becomes successful & Rickles character could do the same & become KING FOR A NIGHT.
Thoughts?
Thank You for Smoking.