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He used to be known for some of the greatest performances in cinematic history: “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “The Godfather Part II.” Now his criteria for picking projects seems to be whether someone has his agent’s phone number or not.

The decline is probably the result of several complicated factors — although the first one is pretty simple.

“I have a one-word answer: alimony,” says a studio-executive-turned-producer. “When you have alimony to pay, you do projects you wouldn’t think you’d do.”