You talkin' to me? At least we assume that was Robert De Niro's reaction when 2024 Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel took a playful swipe at the 80-year-old's relationship with girlfriend Tiffany Chen, some four decades his junior.
"In 1976, Jodie Foster was young enough to play Robert De Niro's daughter," Kimmel said in his Academy Awards monologue, referencing a tween Foster's role as an underage prostitute in Taxi Driver. "Now she's 20 years too old to be his girlfriend." (And he wasn't the only one to get roasted during the monologue, with Kimmel also taking aim at Bradley Cooper's dating history and Robert Downey Jr.'s "very rectangular penis.")
And though Foster was nearly two decades younger than the two-time Oscar winner in the legendary film, "I understand [that they were scared of me]," Foster told Kimmel on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this past January, when asked about past comments she's made. "I was 12. And they had to say things like, you know, 'Can you pull his fly down?' And it was a little awkward."
Though she wasn't really afraid to throw her weight around a bit.
A child actress who booked her first commercial at age 3, Foster had more credits to her name than both De Niro—who starred as lonely Vietnam vet Travis Bickle—and director Martin Scorsese when they filmed in 1975.
"So I was like, 'Whatever. Just, move over,'" she said. "Yeah, they were a little scared, Scorsese especially, who kept giggling every time he talked to me. He'd start giggling and De Niro had to take over."
And though neither De Niro nor Foster won Oscars for their work in the '70s classic (she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress; he for Best Actor), they both had a shot at taking home trophies at the 2024 Academy Awards.
Foster, recognized for her role in NYAD, was once again bested in the Best Supporting Actress race, The Holdovers' Da'Vine Joy Randolph beating out Foster, Oppenheimer's Emily Blunt, The Color Purple's Danielle Brooks and Barbie's America Ferrera.
Killers of the Flower Moon star De Niro, meanwhile, faced off against American Fiction's Sterling K. Brown, Barbie's Ryan Gosling, Poor Things' Mark Ruffalo and Oppenheimer's Robert Downey Jr., who walked away with the prize. (Check out all of the winners here.)
Either way, De Niro had quite the cheering section. His already prolific family grew in 2023 with the birth of his seventh child, he and Chen's now-11-month-old daughter Gia.
To see all the can't-miss moments from the Oscars, read on.
Zendaya
In Armani Privé and Bulgari jewelry.
Florence Pugh
Del Core SS24 RTW and Bulgari jewelry.
DaVine Joy Randolph
In custom Louis Vuitton.
Jennifer Lawrence
In custom Christian Dior Haute Couture with Swarovski jewelry.
Carey Mulligan
In custom Balenciaga Couture and Fred Leighton.
Lily Gladstone
In Gucci x Joe Big Mountain.
Greta Lee
In Loewe.
Kate McKinnon
In Bucherer Fine Jewellery.
Greta Gerwig
In Gucci.
Robert Downey Jr.
In Saint Laurent and Tiffany & Co.
Margot Robbie
In Versace FW24 RTW and Fred Leighton.
Ariana Grande
In custom Giambattista Valli Haute Couture with Tiffany & Co. jewelry.
Dwayne Johnson
In Dolce & Gabbana.
Charlize Theron
Christian Dior Haute Couture.
Ryan Gosling & Mandi Gosling
Ryan Gosling in custom Gucci.
Mark Consuelos & Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa in archive Donna Karan New York.
Becky G
In custom Vera Wang and custom Zales jewelry.
Emma Stone
In custom Louis Vuitton.
Lupita Nyong'o
In custom Armani Privé.
America Ferrera
In custom Atelier Versace.
Hailee Steinfeld
In Elie Saab SS24 Couture and Chopard jewelry.
Kirsten Dunst & Jesse Plemons
Kirsten Dunst in Gucci with Fred Leighton jewelry.
Jodie Foster
In Loewe, Kwiat and Fred Leighton.
Billie Eilish
In Chanel.
Ke Huy Quan
In Giorgio Armani.
Gabrielle Union & Dwyane Wade
Gabrielle Union in Carolina Herrera PF24 with Tiffany & Co. jewelry and Dwyane Wade in custom Ateliee Versace.
Matt Bomer
In custom Brunello Cucinelli.
Roger Federer
Jessica Lange
Tamsin Egerton & Josh Hartnet