Robert De Niro Defends Anna Paquin’s Role in ‘The Irishman’: “That’s What It Was”

Some viewers may have a problem with Anna Paquin‘s seven-word role in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, but star Robert De Niro is not among them. This week, De Niro addressed the controversy in a brief interview with USA Today, and he defended Scorsese’s choice to keep Paquin’s character relatively silent. “She was very powerful and that’s what it was,” said the veteran actor. “She’s terrific and it resonates.”

While Paquin’s character, Peggy Sheeran, is present for much of The Irishman‘s action, she doesn’t actually speak until the end of the film, when she confronts her father Frank (De Niro), a hitman, about the disappearance of Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Peggy never directly addresses her father’s role in Hoffa’s disappearance, but the implication is clear: he’s involved in some way. For much of the three-and-a-half-hour film, Paquin’s character attempts to stay away from Frank’s work and shady business partners, but after developing a bond with Hoffa and his wife Jo, Peggy can no longer ignore the reality of her father’s life. Her anger boils over, and they share a tense exchange in their living room.

“Why? Why?” she asks, glaring at her father.

“Why what?” replies Frank.

“Why haven’t you called Jo?” she says. He finally stands up and makes the call.

It’s a pivotal moment in The Irishman — Frank later reveals that Peggy “stopped talking to [him] that day” and “disappeared” from his life forever — but some viewers have criticized Scorsese for using Paquin only in this one scene. “Martin underused Anna Paquin SO much,” wrote one viewer. “If he wanted the character to be such a small role, cast a smaller actress,” tweeted another.

This week, De Niro finally stepped in to defend Scorsese’s long-gestating mob drama. “She was very powerful and that’s what it was,” he told USA Today. “Maybe in other scenes there could’ve been some interaction between Frank and her possibly, but that’s how it was done. She’s terrific and it resonates.”

Paquin doesn’t appear to be too upset about her limited dialogue, either. In November, the True Blood alum corrected a Twitter user who suggested that Scorsese forced her to accept a pointless role. “Nobody was doing any ‘ordering,'” she tweeted. “I auditioned for the privilege of joining the incredible cast of The Irishman and I’m incredibly proud to get to be a part of this film.”

The Irishman is currently streaming on Netflix.

Watch The Irishman on Netflix