Hollywood comes to Macau. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Source:
https://scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1872964/leonardo-dicaprios-greatest-cinematic-relationship-show Arts & Culture
Leonardo DiCaprio's 'greatest cinematic relationship' on show as trio including De Niro and Scorsese open Studio City casino in Macau
Hollywood comes to Macau. Photo: SCMP Pictures
The two actors and the Hollywood director attended a press conference about the short-film The Audition today at Macau Studio, which drew about 300 journalists from different parts in the world.
The Scorsese-directed short film The Audition, produced to promote Melco Crown Entertainment’s Hollywood-inspired Macau casino resort, is the first time that DiCaprio, De Niro and Brad Pitt, — the only one missing yesterday — have starred in a film together.
Between giggles from the audience and the frenetic flashing of cameras, De Niro confessed he knew little about the former Portuguese enclave and said: “It’s fascinating. The Portuguese came here 500 years ago… You know there is so much of the world that I haven’t learned about.”
The Audition features De Niro and DiCaprio playing themselves and arriving at Studio City, where both actors realise they are up for the same role in a film, directed by Scorsese.
“We tried to make it kind of reality-based with humor about ourselves,” said Scorsese, best known for the movies Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.
DiCaprio said that he was truly amazed by the experience and having the chance to work with De Niro and Scorsese. “These two men are my fathers in the world of cinema… To have scenes with Bob [De Niro] and being directed by Scorsese was a slice of heaven for me as an actor.”
DiCaprio even called it the “greatest cinematic relationship in cinema history.” 
Film star Leonardo DiCaprio speaks at a news conference in Macau on Tuesday. Photo: AP
James Packer, co-chairman of Melco Crown Entertainment Limited and Lawrence Ho’s business partner, was the man with the Hollywood links and Scorsese said that he was first presented with the idea by producer Brett Ratner, DiCaprio and De Niro.
“The question was what the creative freedom really entails,” he said. “A short film is even tougher because it has to be a film… it has to be contained in itself.”
The film stars posing at the opening of the resort's opening. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
The film was shot during five days straight. “They [the actors] were 200 percent committed and we are very proud,” he said.
Scorsese’s connection with Macau will go deeper in his coming movie The Silence, expected to be ready in 2016. “We started shooting in February in Taipei, recreating Macau 1640,” Scorsese said.
He said he had understood the reach of Portugal and Spain in this region of the world, noting Macau’s colonial architecture. “Macau IS a place that was created to be a bridge between the East and the West,” he said.
R-L: Robert De Niro, his wife Grace Hightower, producer Brett Ratner, Melco Crown Entertainment's Co-chairman and chief executive officer Lawrence Ho, his wife Sharen Lo, director Martin Scorsese, film star Leonardo DiCaprio and Melco Crown Entertainment's Co-chairman James Packer pose at the red carpet of the opening ceremony for the Studio City project in Macau. Photo: AP
According to the IMDb website, the plot of The Silence is focused on two Jesuit priests in seventeenth century, who face violence and persecution when they travel to Japan to locate their mentor and to spread the gospel of Christianity.