Dianna Agron felt ''intimidated'' by Robert De Niro.

The 27-year-old actress plays the daughter of Fred Blake (De Niro) and Maggie Blake (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the new movie 'The Family', but she admits she felt really shy around the 70-year-old star when she first met him at the audition.

Speaking to Digital Spy, she said: ''I met Bob first and I didn't have the job yet. I was very quiet when I met him. We ran the scene and he was very lovely. I was very intimidated. By the time Michelle and Bob came to set I was meeting Michelle for the first time, Johnny [D'Leo, her on-screen brother] and I had been filming for two weeks so I felt a lot more comfortable.

''I knew I wasn't going to get fired because we'd shot too much already! Our meeting was much better second time around.''

The blonde beauty enjoyed playing Belle, a teenager prone to bouts of extreme violence, because it was different from anything she has ever played before.

She explained: ''I like how justified she feels, she's definitely the daydreamer and romantic of the family. When she is wronged, don't get in her way - she feels very justified in taking matters into her own hands.

''By the end she's fighting for her life, fighting for her family. I like her maniacal ways.''