Robert De Niro explains injury that sidelined him from new Martin Scorsese film

De Niro stars in "Killers of the Flower Moon" alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.

May 17, 2021, 1:59 PM

Robert De Niro is in good spirits after suffering an injury while making another film with his longtime collaborator, Martin Scorsese.

"It wasn't on the set," the 77-year-old film legend told ABC Audio while promoting the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. "It was in my house, I just stepped over something, and the next thing I know I had sort of ruptured my quad. Crazy thing, it just happened, you know?"

De Niro added, "So I have to get it repaired right away, and then I'll get back into shooting and so on."

A rep for the two-time Oscar winner said the injury occurred at the house he was renting in Oklahoma while filming Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon." The rep also explained that the actor's treatment won't affect his work on the drama, because De Niro wasn't scheduled to shoot again for another three weeks.

"Killers of the Flower Moon" centers on a real-life series of murders in 1920s Oklahoma. De Niro plays a wealthy rancher named William Hale in the film, which also stars fellow Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, another frequent Scorsese collaborator.

The film is based on journalist David Grann's 2017 book of the same name, with a screenplay by Oscar winner Eric Roth.