Robert De Niro doesn’t think the US government acted quickly enough amid the coronavirus pandemic, as he likened the current crisis to a “movie”.

The 76-year-old actor has slammed the response to the health crisis, as he believes the government had “enough warning” to put safety measures into practice much earlier than it did.

He told CNN: “I wish that people… the government had acted earlier. They had enough warning. Because we would not be at this stage of this pandemic, I think, if that had happened.”

De Niro—who hails from New York, which is the epicentre of the virus in the US—says the pandemic “feels the same” as the 9/11 terrorist attack which struck the city in 2001.

He explained: “It feels the same, except this is … like something we see in a movie. It happened so fast. It’s unreal to see every big city in the world just sort of empty. You only see that in a movie, and it’s happening to us.”

Whilst he thinks the government could have done more, De Niro did praise New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo for his “great job” in “taking charge” amid the difficult times.

He said: “It’s so refreshing to see him speak and take charge, no matter what happens … He took action.”