Robert De Niro to star in Netflix political thriller ‘Zero Day’

Los Angeles, Dec. 1 (IANS): Hollywood star Robert De Niro is set to star in the limited series ‘Zero Day’ currently in the works at Netflix.

The political thriller hails from Eric Newman and Noah Oppenheim, ‘Variety’ reports.

Exact plot details are being kept under wraps, but sources say the show would be a political thriller in which De Niro would play a former US President.

Newman and Oppenheim are the writers and executive producers on the series, with a story by Newman, Oppenheim, and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Schmidt.

De Niro is one of the best known film stars of all time, having won the Academy Award for best actor and best supporting actor for ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘The Godfather Part II’ respectively.

He has been nominated for seven acting Academy Awards in total, while he also shared in the best picture nomination for ‘The Irishman’, which he produced and in which he also played the lead role. He has received multiple Emmy nominations in his career as well, including one for best actor in a TV movie or limited series for the HBO film “Wizard of Lies,” in which he played Bernie Madoff.

Newman has a longstanding relationship with Netflix, beginning with his work on the streamer’s hit series ‘Narcos’.

Newman was an executive producer, writer, and showrunner on ‘Narcos’ and then became the showrunner and executive producer on the followup series ‘Narcos: Mexico’.

Newman’s other Netflix credits include creating the Kevin Hart-Wesley Snipes series ‘True Story’ and executive producing the Ryan Murphy-Ian Brennan series “The Watcher,” which was recently renewed for a second season.

Oppenheim is the president of NBC News, a role he has held since 2017. He was previously the executive in charge of ‘The Today Show’.