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Nino is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Bernie Rose) of the 2011 American neo-noir crime film Drive. He is a tall, tough grown man with a wide back and strong look; this characteristic can remind of a gorilla or a caveman which just makes him more intimidating and formidable. He usually dresses casually with sweatsuits, shirts, sneakers and gold chains, near the end of the film he is having a party at his business and it has seen wearing a Versace black suit with a white shirt with golden tie and tissue.

He was portrayed by Ron Perlman, who also played Clayface in the DC Animated Universe, Pap Finn in The Adventures of Huck Finn, Mr. Grasping in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island, Drekk in Men in Black: The Series, Count Nikolas Rokoff in The Legend of Tarzan, Dieter Reinhardt in Blade II, the Viceroy in Star Trek: Nemesis, the High Mage in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), Slade in Teen Titans, Bane, Killer Croc and Rumor in The Batman, Kago in Tarzan II, Hoodoo Brown in Gun, Sheriff Collie Entragian in Desperation, Biff Wellington in Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!, Justice in Afro Samurai, Warhok in Kim Possible, Sozin in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Clay Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, Gha Nachkt in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Nicola in Bunraku, the Stabbington Brothers in the Tangled franchise, The Lich in Adventure Time, Sinestro in Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Deathstroke in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Polyphemus in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Rust in Payday 2, Xibalba in The Book of Life, Armaggon in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Gnarlak in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Bular in Trollhunters and the Podestà in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

History[]

Nino is a Jewish mobster alongside his best friend and partner in crime Bernie Rose, the manager and owner of Nino's Pizzeria when the auto shop owner and movie stunt director Shannon persuades both of them to purchase a stock car chassis and build it for the Driver to race.

Meanwhile, the Driver comes close to Irene and Benicio the family of the recently released prisoner Standard, who owing protection money from his time in prison, is beaten up by Albanian gangster Cook, who demands that Standard rob a pawnshop for $40,000 to pay the debt. The Driver, concerned for the safety of Irene and Benicio, steals a Ford Mustang and offers to act as the getaway driver for the pawnshop job. After the job is done the Driver hunts down Cook in a strip club, smashes his fingers with a hammer, and threatens to kill him, force-feeding him the bullet that was given to Benicio; Cook reveals that Nino was behind the robbery. The driver decides to return the million but Nino dismisses the offer and instead sends a hitman to the driver's apartment building, but the Driver kills the hitman in the elevator. In his pizzeria, Nino reveals to Bernie that the money was stashed at the pawn shop by a low-level Philadelphia wise guy from the "East Coast mob" and since anyone tied to the robbery could lead the East Coast Mafia to them, they need to kill everyone involved. Bernie warns Nino that nobody steals from the Italian Mob. Nino becomes angered and explains how the Italian Mob has, in part due to his Jewish heritage, continually marginalized and insulted him. In the end, he convinces Bernie to follow his plan. Bernie then proceeds to murder Cook, as he is the sole witness to their agreement. After Shannon refuses to divulge the whereabouts of the driver, Bernie kills him at the auto shop cutting his arm veins with a straight razor from his collection of blades.

The Driver (disguising himself with a rubber mask from his stuntman job) follows Nino from the pizzeria to the Pacific Coast Highway and T-bones Nino's car onto a beach, The Driver chases Nino and drives him of the road to later crash his car onto Nino's car, which falls from a hill and in the beach, Nino comes crawling out from the car while the Driver chases him, Nino in terror tries to escape to the sea but the waves are too strong and push him to the Driver, then he drowns Nino in the sea.

Personality[]

Nino is described by the film's director Nicolas Winding Refn and actor Ron Perlman as "a Jewish guy who wants to be an Italian mobster". Nino is at first sight tough and dangerous, and even though throughout the film he is shown to be really serious about his business and people he works with by not taking any mistakes lightly from anyone, it is also shown he is just envious of his superiors who also bully him for being Jewish. Because of that, he tries to make them respect him by taking risks, torturing people and killing anyone who gets in his way, but when his henchman Cook reveals to the Driver that the pawn shop robbery was all Nino's idea, he asks Bernie to violently murder him as he looks away. This may show that even though he is feared for his appearance, manners and punishments, he can't handle violence.

During the film, it is also shown that he likes expensive things and swears a lot.

Gallery[]

Nino's promotional poster.

Trivia[]

• Ryan Gosling described Ron Perlman's performance in this film as "the guitar solo".
• Despite being the Bigger Bad and main antagonist, he was the easiest for the Driver to find, so he killed him first.