Robert De Niro delivered the graduation speech to NYU’s Tisch School of Arts class of 2015. He’s still considered a “get” for such events, even though he’s coasted through his last 20 movies (Silver Linings Playbook included). People still think of De Niro in iconic Taxi Driver terms, which is understandable. He used this opportunity to deliver an atypical speech. Most graduation speakers aim to be inspirational, but De Niro told it to these students straight. The job market is a tough one for many fields but especially for the arts. NYU tuition is outrageously high, and most of these students will be paying off student loans for three-decade terms (no joke). Even if these graduates were lucky enough to not mortgage their lives, they still face dire career prospects. Here’s a partial transcript of the speech:

Tisch graduates, you made it. And you’re f*cked. Think about that. The graduates from the college of nursing? They all have jobs. The graduates from the college of dentistry? Fully employed. The Leonard N. Stern school of business graduates? They’re covered. The school of medicine graduates? Each one will get a job. The proud graduates of the NY school of law? They’re covered. And if they’re not, who cares? They’re lawyers. The English majors are not a factor. They’ll be home writing their novels. The teachers, they’ll all be working. Sh*tty jobs, lousy pay. But they’ll be working. The graduates in accounting? They all have jobs. Where does that leave you, envious of those accountants? I doubt it. They had a choice. Maybe they were passionate about accounting, but I think it’s more likely that they used reason and logic and common sense to reach for a career that could give the expectation of success and stability. Reason, logic, common sense … at the Tisch School of Arts … are you kidding me? You discovered a talent, developed an ambition, and recognized your passion. When you feel that you can’t fight it, you just go for it. When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense … yeah, you’re f***ed. The good news is, that’s not a bad place to start … How do you cope with it? I hear that Valium and Vicodin work.”

[From Youtube]

Here’s video footage of the speech with a warning for NSFW language:

De Niro also shares his own experiences with rejection. He joked about auditioning for the Martin Luther King role in Selma to illustrate his point. LMAO.

Overall, this speech wasn’t out of line. These students know they chose a difficult field to crack, but they were still driven to pursue a career in performing arts. Director Eli Roth holds a Tisch film school degree. He once remarked that he’s the only grad from his class who carved out a living in the field. So De Niro’s speech is slightly brutal, but he speaks the truth. Heck, I listened to multiple professors say the same stuff during lectures, and this was for a field that many consider marketable (even though it’s not). Most Tisch grads knew the drill long before they applied to college. This speech was comic relief for something that they’ve worried about for years.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN