"Well, [Marlon] Brando, I knew him a little bit and did a movie with him," De Niro said. "As young actors we all looked up to him. He was a very smart, interesting guy. Liked to talk a lot about interesting things."
When pressed to name more of his heroes, De Niro acknowledged, "[Nelson] Mandela was a hero to me. I do think of the Capitol Police, the guys in the Capitol Police. The Metropolitan Police." He mentioned Michael Fanone, Harry Dunn, and "everybody else who was involved and affected and hurt by that" in reference to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Colbert replied, "Can you imagine being Capitol Police now and watching those people march past you who want to deny that you served them that day?" "Yeah," De Niro replied. "It's something."
De Niro also spoke about Zero Day, his first time doing a TV limited series. "It's like doing three features back-to-back," the actor explained. "It's a lot of work, but it was well-written and I wanted to do something in New York for five or six months... It's a political thriller."
In Zero Day, De Niro plays former president George Mullen who is called back to duty after a massive cyber attack on the country. The series, directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, features a stacked cast that includes Jesse Plemmons as Mullen's former aide-turned-fixer, Roger Carlson, and Lizzy Caplan as Alexandra Mullen -- daughter of the former president, now a congressional representative trying to chart her own political future. Joan Allen plays Mullen's wife, Sheila, who's been nominated to be a federal judge; Connie Britton plays Valerie Whitesell, Mullen's former chief of staff; and Matthew Modine plays Richard Dreyer, the current speaker of the house.