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There is no doubt in my mind that Robert De Niro will go down in Hollywood’s history books as a man among mice, a true champion acting and an all-around badass. He will also go down as a decent director — he’s the guy who brought us A Bronx Tale, which was a damn fine effort if I must say so myself.

But that said, when I hear that is making comments at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival along the lines of wanting to string The Good Shepherd into not one, but two more films, all of that goes away. In fact, all I can remember is the long nap that I took somewhere in act 2.5 of The Good Shepherd, a perfectly likable, yet tremendously boring film. I’m not saying that it is bad by any means — just that I was bored stiff. So you’ll understand why I am less than excited to hear that Bobby D is eying sequels. The sequels would work in two parts — one bringing the action forward from 1961 to 1989, the other following its hero, Edward Wilson (Matt Damon), up to the present day.

The report, which came by way of Variety, also mentions that De Niro is currently working on a yet-to-be-disclosed project with Martin Scorsese, which should be ready by 2009.

As well, De Niro also commented on the prospect of a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike, saying “I do not think it is a good time to strike now. The issues could be resolved over the next couple of years (without strike action).”

As of now, the Screen Actors Guild has been avoiding a strike in hopes of coming to a labor agreement with the AMPTP. As for De Niro, he is currently traveling the festival circuit with his film What Just Happened, which is due to hit theaters in the United States on October 3rd. He will also appear alongside Al Pacino in Righteous Kill, a buddy-cop drama set for release on September 12th.