Robert De Niro on taking dual crime boss roles in “The Alto Knights”

Robert De Niro is playing two rival crime bosses in his latest film, describing it as a technical challenge

The veteran actor explained that the dual role, where he portrays both Frank and Vito in “The Alto Knights,” required precise positioning and careful coordination with cameras on dollies moving around the set.

“It’s a technical thing where you have to be in a certain spot,” De Niro said.

To make the rapid-fire dialogue between his characters work, he enlisted another actor to read opposite him during filming.

“When I would do Frank, he would do Vito. When I would do Vito, he would do Frank,” De Niro explained. “I couldn’t just do it with nothing. I had to have another actor, a person who understood that world.”

The film reportedly went through several casting iterations, with De Niro confirming there “was talk” of pairing him with Al Pacino at one point.

“I didn’t want it to be just a gimmick,” De Niro said about the eventual decision to have him play both roles. “But I thought there is something interesting about it.”

When discussing his approach to character preparation, De Niro noted that requirements vary by role. For his recent political series, “Zero Day,” he relied heavily on existing footage of politicians.

“There’s so much out there about politicians and presidents and senators and Congress people that you see these interviews every day,” he said. “See them in all kinds of uncomfortable situations, this and that, how they react.”

De Niro, whose father was Italian and Irish while his mother had Dutch, French and German heritage, also acknowledged he “identifies more with Italians” when playing mob characters.

The film includes a memorable scene featuring dogs in mink coats, which De Niro revealed was his idea.

“Frank walks in the park with the dog, why would the dogs not have some kind of mink coat, you know, protection?” he said.

“The Alto Knights,” which is out next Friday, joins De Niro’s extensive filmography of crime dramas, which includes “The Irishman,” “The Godfather Part II,” and “Goodfellas.”