Robert De Niro says Mayor Zohran Mamdani should attend New York’s 9/11 memorial, weighing in as the city marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks and as a new documentary about the Tribeca Film Festival arrives on Netflix.
In an interview this week at CBS News headquarters in midtown Manhattan with longtime Tribeca producing partner Jane Rosenthal, De Niro addressed recent objections to Mamdani’s presence at the memorial. The source material describes a protest movement led by Rudy Giuliani, George Pataki, former FDNY commissioner Thomas von Essen and a few families, who object because, as they see it, Mamdani has had associations with people who minimized the tragedy.
De Niro rejected the idea that Mamdani should stay away.
“I don’t see why he shouldn’t come,” De Niro said. “He’s the mayor. I haven’t heard him say or do anything yet that would disqualify him from being there. Maybe I’m naive but you have to give the guy a chance. He’s not a part of what happened.”
Asked whether he understood why families of victims could find the situation problematic, De Niro paused before answering: “I understand their pain but I still think he should be there.”
Rosenthal suggested the controversy may be connected to “tension he’s had with the fire department” and comments about “defund the police,” which she said she did not think Mamdani “really meant.” De Niro responded that Mamdani “did say it,” adding, “And of course it’s ridiculous. You can’t defund the police. It’s not going to happen. But I still think he should be at the memorial.”
Rosenthal said Mamdani should use the occasion “as a baton to unite the city.” De Niro offered an even more compact formulation: “As a bridge.”
Tribeca’s 9/11 Roots Return to the Forefront
The conversation with De Niro and Rosenthal came as Tribeca’s own origin story is being revisited in Tribeca 25, a new Matt Tyrnauer documentary dropping on Netflix Friday. The film looks back at the festival founded in the months after the attacks by De Niro, Rosenthal and Rosenthal’s then-husband Craig Hatkoff.
Tribeca, which reaches its 25th year in 2026, began as a response to a city in pain. De Niro recalled being on the roof at Tribeca headquarters and his offices at 375 Greenwich during the festival’s first year, looking down at crowds below.
“I do remember that first year, right when we started, standing on the roof and looking down and seeing thousands of people coming out and thinking ‘we really have something,’” De Niro said. “We had no idea if it would work. And then I’m thinking ‘downtown can come back.’ I don’t know if anything will compare to that feeling.”
Rosenthal described the earliest days as improvised and uncertain. “It really did seem impossible,” she said, recalling that they were “walking into movie theaters with hazmat suits” because they had been told the spaces were unsafe. She said they did not know whether anyone would come.
One early complication involved George Lucas and a new Star Wars movie. According to Rosenthal, De Niro came into her office and told her Lucas said the movie would not be ready in time. Rosenthal said she suggested pushing the festival back because “it’s not like anyone is waiting for it.”
“We had no rules, no business plan,” Rosenthal said. “We just knew we needed to do something.”
De Niro summarized the feeling in the city at the time: “New York seemed stuck. Downtown seemed dead. The only thing we could do is try to change that.”
Remembering United 93 at Tribeca
The interview also revisited one of the festival’s most significant 9/11-related moments: Tribeca’s 2006 opening-night premiere of Paul Greengrass’ United 93. The festival invited Greengrass, the film’s cast and family members of those who died on the hijacked flight.
Rosenthal called the evening “very special and one of the highlights of the past 25 years.” She said the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, families “haven’t already felt like they were included as much as some the others,” adding, “So we were just trying to give them a community, a place where they can come together and remember.”
She acknowledged the challenge of striking the right tone for the event, from whether there should be a red carpet to who should be invited. “It’s really uncharted territory,” Rosenthal said. “But I think in the end we got it right and it was one of the most special moments in the history of the festival.”
The source material notes that Tribeca’s evolution has included appearances by Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton at its first edition, later performances involving Nas, George Harrison, Aretha Franklin and others, as well as programming that has ranged from independent films and studio movies to documentaries, foreign films, VR, multimedia and AI. It also states that after a period owned by James Dolan, Tribeca has for the past seven years been owned by James Murdoch’s investment group.
De Niro on 9/11, Politics and AI
De Niro also recounted his own experience on Sept. 11. He said he had been scheduled to go to California later that day and was returning from a meeting in Midtown when his son called to tell him a plane had hit the Twin Towers, then called again to say another plane had hit. De Niro said he reached his office, nine blocks north of the Towers, and saw them burning through a large picture window before they “pancaked down.”
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing — I had to watch CNN just to confirm it, as strange as that sounds,” De Niro said. “Right at the moment it felt like nothing could ever go on as usual. ‘We are in the middle of an apocalypse,’ I kept thinking.”
The interview also moved into national politics. Asked about Donald Trump, De Niro said, “We have to stop him,” and called for protecting elections and helping people get to voting booths safely.
Discussing Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk documentary premiering in Venice, De Niro called Musk “a monster” and criticized “so many of the tech barons.” He also voiced concerns about AI and likeness control, citing The Vault, a partnership between CAA and YouTube intended to give performers more agency over their likeness.
“I have control over my image now,” De Niro said. “You need my consent. If you do it right and I’m involved I don’t think I’d have a problem with it. But a lot of it is not that. It’s things I’d never say.”
Rosenthal added that The Vault is “very good” but said there is “a long way to go to get control.”
As for Tribeca’s next quarter-century, De Niro answered with characteristic bluntness when asked what people might say about the festival after another 25 years: “Well I won’t be here for that. Maybe you will.” When AI immortality was floated, he replied, “Maybe as AI.”