Robert De Niro gives blunt commencement speech at NYU: "Yeah, you're f—ed"
Robert De Niro stated the truth at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts graduation on Friday: "You made it -; and, you're f-;ed."
At the Madison Square Garden-set ceremony, he bluntly noted that graduates with degrees in nursing, dentistry, business, law, education all have a future of stability ahead of them -; a choice those other students made using reason and logic, but one that the crop of performers could not ever make.
"You discovered a talent, developed an ambition and recognized your passion. When you feel that, you can't fight it -; you just go with it," he explained. "When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense. You aren't just following dreams, you're reaching for your destiny. ...; You're an artist -; yeah, you're f-;d. The good news is that's not a bad place to start."
The actor and Tribeca Film Festival founder continued his frank speech by clarifying what's ahead. "Now that you've made your choice -; or, rather, succumbed to it -; your path is clear. Not easy, but clear. You have to keep working, it's that simple. You got through Tisch, that's a big deal. Or, to put it another way, you got through Tisch? Big deal!
"A new door is opening for you -; a door to a lifetime of rejection. It's evitable," he warned of post-graduate life. "How do you cope? I hear that Valium and Vicodin work! ...; You don't want to block the pain too much. Without the pain, what would we talk about?"
Watch the full speech here.
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