Robert De Niro, Bobby Cannavale discuss new film about raising an autistic child

William Fitzgerald, a 15-year-old with autism, had been hoping to start a YouTube channel.

To try to get some publicity before the launch, he auditioned for a movie despite having no acting experience.

“I thought this would be a good way to [start],” Fitzgerald said. “I’ve seen YouTubers do little cameos in movies, so I thought I could do the same but bigger.”

Bigger as in landing the role of a title character in a film starring Bobby Cannavale and Robert De Niro.

Fitzgerald began filming at 13 years old for his professional acting debut in “Ezra” – which follows Max Bernal (Cannavale), a stand-up comedian living with his father (De Niro), while struggling to co-parent his autistic son Ezra (Fitzgerald) with his ex-wife (Rose Byrne).

Fitzgerald and his award-winning co-stars reunited in New York on Monday for an advanced screening of “Ezra” and Q&A session held exclusively for Tribeca Members. De Niro was asked how he makes a young newcomer feel comfortable working alongside one of Hollywood’s most accomplished actors. 

“He doesn’t even care,” De Niro said, drawing laughs from the crowd. 

“Wait, Bob,” Fitzgerald quickly replied. “Was that a roast?”

“No, it wasn’t,” De Niro said.  “That’s it, you don’t care. You shouldn’t.”

Others did, with the 80-year-old De Niro receiving praise from cast members for the impact his presence had on the film. His influence helped shape the development of his character and balance the script’s truthfulness of a family connecting with an autistic child with its well-timed comedic relief.

Screenwriter Tony Spiridakis based the script on his relationship and experiences with his son, who is on the autistic spectrum.

“I realized this was not my son’s issue at all. It was mine,” Spiridakis said. “It took a long while for that lightbulb to go off in my head, similar to Max, that was a father I wasn’t supposed to find a solution to this, that my son was just wired differently and in a wonderful way. And that changed everything.”

De Niro, a father of seven children, said he accepted the role in part because he has an autistic son. 

“It’s something I understand as far as having a child in Ezra’s situation,” De Niro said. “I liked the whole feeling of the film, the people involved…It had all the right feelings, and heart.”

Cannavale, a father of three boys, also related to the father-son dynamics depicted in the film.

“I have all these boys and it’s just been my life since I’m 24 years old,” he said. “It’s the only thing I know, so I connected with the script primarily because of that.”

The movie centers around the complex relationships among the three generations, with De Niro and Cannavale both highlighting a particular exchange their two characters shared.

“That conversation that you might have to have with your child is a hard conversation to have: ‘I can see the road you’re heading down, and I can tell you from experience…’ That’s a hard conversation to have with your children,” Cannavale said. “I thought if we can really capture how hard that conversation is, how hard all these conversations are, how hard it is to raise kids, and how much we endeavor to do the right thing and we don’t always do the right thing, and I thought the character was so imperfect that way that I thought that would be an interesting mess to portray.”

The film – which also stars Whoopi Goldberg, Rainn Wilson and Vera Farmiga – was directed by Tony Goldwyn, who is godfather to Spiridakis’ son. 

“The fact that Ezra is autistic, William is autistic, whether someone’s neurodivergent or not, that’s really a metaphor for what everyone feels in life, wanting to conform, wanting to fit certain societal norms,” Goldwyn said. “And as a parent wanting your child to succeed and fit in, we put a lot of pressure on our children, on ourselves. So, if people can watch this movie and say whether I’m a member of the autistic community, whether I have a child who is, it really doesn’t matter because we all can relate.”

The event, which was at SVA Theatre in New York City in recognition of Autism Acceptance Month, was held as part of a new annual membership providing elements of the Tribeca Festival year-round. De Niro, the co-founder of the festival, is scheduled for two other upcoming event appearances, including a “Mean Streets” reunion with Martin Scorsese, and De Niro Con, a multi-day commemoration of the iconic actor’s career.