HBO/Craig Blankenhorn(LOS ANGELES) — Thursday night, HBO held a premiere event for The Wizard of Lies, the network’s new movie about Bernie Madoff, the Wall Street financier who pleaded guilty to running a Ponzi scheme that is believe to be the largest fraud in U.S. financial history.
The movie stars Robert De Niro as Madoff, and Michelle Pfeiffer as his wife Ruth. At the event, De Niro said that while he did research into Madoff, that wasn’t really the heart of his portrayal.
“I just tried to get as much information about him as I could,” he said, but “at the end of the day, we’re only interpreting what we feel.”
Apparently De Niro did a good job. Director Barry Levinson explains that the movie is based on the account of journalist Diana Henriques, who was the only journalist to interview Madoff in prison. She plays herself in the movie and Levinson asked her about De Niro’s Madoff.
“After doing a couple takes with Bob I said to her, ‘So how does he compare to Bernie?'” Levinson said. “And Diana said, ‘There are moments he’s so close to Bernie it gave me the goosebumps.'”
In playing Ruth Madoff, Pfeiffer said she tried to capture her fun-loving nature, and her central role in keeping the family together, but most importantly she wanted to make sure Ruth didn’t come off as guilty.
“She was innocent in all of this and that was important to all of us — that we portray her in that way,” Pfeiffer said.
The Wizard of Lies premieres Saturday, May 20, a 8 p.m. on HBO.
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