'I want to see what he's going to do': Robert De Niro said he's 'hoping' for the best from Trump weeks after saying his election 'felt like 9/11'

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Robert De Niro said he is hoping to see the best from Donald Trump, just a month after revealing how much he wanted to punch the president-elect in the face.

'I would only say that we're all hoping, waiting and hoping, that he will lead the country in a way that'll benefit everyone,' De Niro told ITK on Tuesday. 

'And benefit our neighbors around the world. That's all. We're waiting and hoping, and we'll see.' 

It was a surprisingly calm message from the Raging Bull star, who previously said the night Trump was elected felt like the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. 

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Robert De Niro (pictured receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom) said he is hoping to see the best from Donald Trump as president

De Niro (pictured with Ellen DeGeneres) made the comments after he was awarded the nation's highest civilian honor during a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday

'I feel like I did after 9/11,' the Academy Award-winning actor told The Hollywood Reporter two days after the election. 

'And we'll just see what happens,' he continued. 'There will be many, many, many, many people watching.'  

De Niro, 73, previously called Trump a 'con, bulls**t artist' and a 'mutt who doesn't know what he's talking about' in a video for the campaign called #VoteYourFuture.

'I mean, he's so blatantly stupid,' De Niro said in the clip. 'He's a punk. He's a dog. He's a pig.' 

'He talks how he wants to punch people in the face. Well, I'd like to punch him in the face.' 

'This is somebody we want for president? I don't think so. What I care about is the direction of our country.' 

'And what I'm very, very worried about is that it might go in the wrong direction with someone like Donald Trump.' 

But on Tuesday De Niro, who had just been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House, said his video was meant to be 'symbolic'. 

It was a surprisingly calm message from the Raging Bull star, who previously said the night Trump was elected felt like the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks 

De Niro, 73, also previously called Trump a 'con, bulls**t artist' and a 'mutt who doesn't know what he's talking about' in a video for the campaign called #VoteYourFuture (pictured)

'After he said the things that he said, anybody would want to punch him in the face,' De Niro told reporters, according to The Hill. 

'Many people told me, "You said what I'd want to say". It's just unacceptable to say those things in the situations that he said them in. 

'Now he's president-elect and I just want to see what he's going to do.' 

'We're waiting and hoping, and we'll see.' 

De Niro wasn't the only celebrity softening his tone when it came to Trump. 

Jeff Bridges, a staunch Clinton supporter during the election, revealed that he was now 'rooting' for Trump's presidency. 

'One of things that's most appealing about him is his unpredictability,' Bridges said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly earlier this week. 

'A less kind word might be his hypocrisy, but unpredictability and hypocrisy are things that each of us human beings share,' Bridges continued. 'It's something we all struggle with and work with.' 

Actors Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow both said this week that they found Trump's presidency to be an 'exciting' and 'fascinating' time in America 

Bridges also said he was 'pleased' with Trump's acceptance speech and that he praised and thanked Clinton after she conceded on election night. 

'I'm rooting for the guy, but we'll see how it all goes,' Bridges continued. 'You just don't know how it will all work out.' 

Bridges added that he believes President Obama, as well as Clinton and Elizabeth Warren, have set a good tone for the future. 

'It's a fascinating time,' the Academy Award-winning actor said. 

Gwyneth Paltrow echoed Bridges comments, saying this weekend that she found it to be 'such an exciting time to be an American'. 

'We are at this amazing inflection point,' she said while giving a talk at the Airbnb Open conference in Los Angeles over the weekend. 

'People are clearly tired of the status quo,' she continued. 'It's sort of like someone threw it all in the air and we're going to see how it all lands.'