In 1987 , De Niro was the President of the Jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival . He appeared in '' This Boy 's Life '' ( 1993 ) . Around this time , he was offered the role of the psychotic assassin Mitch Leary in '' In the Line of Fire '' opposite Clint Eastwood ( 1993 ) . However , due to scheduling conflicts with his directorial debut '' A Bronx Tale '' ( 1993 ) , he gave up the role to John Malkovich , who later received an Academy Award nomination for it . In '' A Bronx Tale '' , which De Niro agreed to direct after seeing the screenwriter 's one-man off-Broadway play , he played a bus driver who struggles to keep his son away from a local mobster . At the 20th Moscow International Film Festival in 1997 , he was awarded an Honorable Prize for contribution to cinema
20th Moscow International Film Festival
20th Moscow International Film Festival
Robert De Niro