Martin Scorsese may not be the easiest guy in the industry to please, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe in giving credit where it is due. On January 3, the veteran filmmaker praised frequent collaborator Robert De Niro, calling him “the greatest actor of his generation” at the Variety Creative Impact Awards.

De Niro made the remarks while accepting the Creative Impact in Acting Award on January 3rd.

Scorsese, who was in Palm Springs to introduce De Niro, the star of “The Irishman” and a longstanding professional colleague, declared him “the greatest actor of his generation” whose “creative impact in acting will always be felt as long as there are actors to express their art.”

“God willing, we’re on the tenth, with Leo [DiCaprio],” Scorsese said, referring to the nine films he and De Niro had completed together.

Scorsese stated of the fellow New Yorker, “We met when we were 16 years old. I think the first movie star I had worked with was Paul Newman in ‘The Color of Money.’ Before that…it was all just working with friends, almost like home movies… and that culminated in ‘The Irishman.’ It took us many years to figure out that was the picture we wanted to make.”

‘You don’t do it alone… And it wouldn’t be any fun if you did do it alone,’’ said De Niro, who described The Irishman as a ‘homecoming.’

He said, referring to co-stars like Joe Pesci, “I was making a movie with my best friends. When I think about it I can’t believe how f—ing old these guys are. You can’t de-age friendships. We spent 108 shooting days [on ‘The Irishman’]; I wish we could have shot for 108 more. Marty, can we do some reshoots?”

It’s no surprise that the two friends remember the Netflix picture fondly, especially because it was so well-received by audiences, that The National Board of Review awarded it the best film of the year last month.

De Niro portrays Frank Sheeran, a real-life mob soldier in a Philadelphia nursing home. He’s been diagnosed with cancer and is confined to a wheelchair. With no family to lean on, he recounts his career as the “Irishman” and recalls a period when killings and other horrible occurrences that altered the course of history were linked to the Mafia. The film has garnered a lot of positive feedback and has been nominated for several awards.

‘The Irishman’ is now only accessible on Netflix for viewing.