Last month the 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival kicked off to much success, yet controversy sparked when the anti-vaccine documentary \u201cVaxxed\u201d was in the screening lineup. The film was eventually pulled from the schedule after a handful of filmmakers threatened to pull their films out if it was screened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a new interview with\u00a0Vulture<\/a>\u00a0at Cannes,\u00a0Robert De Niro<\/a>\u00a0discussed the documentary\u2019s controversy, how he didn\u2019t understand why people wouldn\u2019t want the film to be shown and how he\u2019s also working on his own vaccine project with\u00a0Harvey Weinstein<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat I learned, first of all, there was a big reaction, which I didn\u2019t see coming, and it was from filmmakers \u2014 supposedly, I have yet to find out who it was,\u201d expressed the \u201cHands of Stone\u201d actor. \u201cI wanted to just know who they were, because to me there was no reason not to see the movie.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cVaxxed\u201d is directed by Andrew Wakefield, former UK surgeon and medical researcher known for his 1998 research paper that claimed a link between vaccination and autism. The research was later declared fraudulent. The controversial topic let to outcries from filmmakers against the project, ultimately leading to its removal from the festival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe movie is not hurting anybody. It says something. It said something to me that was valid. Maybe some things were inaccurate, but if the movie was 20 percent accurate, it was worth seeing,\u201d said De Niro. \u201cAnd they were saying it\u2019s because of the filmmaker and he was discredited, but how was he discredited? By the medical establishment? There\u2019s a lot going on that I still don\u2019t understand, but it makes me question the whole thing, and the whole vaccine issue is a real one. It\u2019s big money. So it did get attention. I was happy about that,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The actor has been vocal about his disapproval of the removal of the film before, while he is not anti-vaccine, he does want safe-vaccines and to open people\u2019s eyes to something greater.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSomething is there with vaccines, because they\u2019re not tested in some ways the way other medicines are, and they\u2019re just taken for granted and mandated in some states,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd people do get sick from it. Not everybody, but certain people are sensitive, like anything, penicillin.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n So, in light of all this, he is now teaming up with one of the top film execs to get the true story out there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m working on something else,\u201d De Niro said. \u201cHarvey Weinstein and I are working on doing a documentary, but I don\u2019t what to talk much about it, because when I talk about it, something happens. But that\u2019s what we plan to try to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
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