50 Cent feels ‘normal’ next to De Niro

updated 11:59 a.m. ET Feb. 5, 2008

NEW YORK - It’s not every day that you see Robert De Niro on the cover of Vibe — with 50 Cent.

They posed for the magazine’s March issue to promote their new crime drama, “Righteous Kill,” co-starring Al Pacino and Brian Dennehy. The movie is expected to be released this fall.

50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, says he’d “hang out with Robert on Thursdays and Fridays” if he could.

“His celebrity is so strong that I get a chance to feel like a normal person for a little bit,” the 31-year-old rapper tells Vibe. “People get nervous around him. We had a table read, and it was amazing because there were people who came in who were like, all recognizable faces ... and Robert comes in and Al comes in and it’s almost like, their knees are going shaky under the table. It’s great.”

50, who has sold millions of records, launched his film career with the autobiographical tale “Get Rich or Die Tryin”’ in 2005.

De Niro won an Oscar for portraying a mob boss in “The Godfather: Part II.” His screen credits also include “Goodfellas” and “Heat.” The 64-year-old actor says he doesn’t mind being famous for playing gangsters.

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“Those characters are more exciting,” he says. “People like to watch and identify with them in some ways. It’s a fantasy. The other side is, for an actor, (those parts are) more fun, in a way, to do.”

Is 50 that cold-blooded?

“Yeah,” says the rapper, who’s famously been shot nine times.

When asked the same question, De Niro responds: “No, I don’t know. I’m actually ... more sensitive.”

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