1. Like life itself
The story behind Taxi Driver starts in 1972 and is partly autobiographical. Paul Schrader, its screenwriter, had lost his job at the American Film Institute, had broken relations with the critic Pauline Kael, his supporter in the scene, was in the process of divorce, and after breaking up with a date found himself living in a car and on the verge of mental collapse: obsessed with guns and P-, he spent weeks without speaking to anyone. That vital misery served as an inspiration to the author and many years later he would confess that writing the text for that film was a complete "exorcism through art."
2. At gunpoint
Schrader also recounts that to write the script for Taxi Driver he had a loaded gun on the table and a copy of La Nausea, by Jean-Paul Sartre, as a source of motivation. Working with a gun nearby had its effect, as the writer finished the text in just ten days, seven to write and three to polish the manuscript.
3. In the beginning it was Palm
Paul Schrader saw Brian De Palma directing the film. Both were colleagues, but the director of The Price of Power (1983) was not quite sure how to approach the project and during a meal in Los Angeles he introduced Scorsese to his friend so that she could take over. by Taxi Driver. Neither Schrader nor the film's producers Julia and Michael Phillips were particularly convinced, but they changed their minds when they saw Mean Streets.
4. A matter of patience
It took quite a while from Martin Scorsese's first reading of the script to production on the project getting underway, though the filmmaker was hooked on Travis's story from the moment he first held the manuscript in his hands. hands. Michael and Julia Phillips had canvassed other directors (Irvin Kershner, Robert Mulligan) to orchestrate the film, but Scorsese went to great lengths to convince them, including showing up at every party the couple attended. Even with the approval of the Phillips, it was difficult to sell the project to a major and Columbia finally signed on only when Scorsese achieved critical recognition with Mean Streets, Schrader had closed the shooting of Fascination (Brian De Palma, 1976), and De Niro had signed on to appear in The Godfather: Part II (1974).
5. Fear of De Niro's cache
Robert De Niro signed on to star in Taxi Driver for a total salary of $35,000, but between the time the contract was signed and the film was shot the actor already had his first Academy Award on his hands for his role in The Godfather: Part II. and, obviously, its cache shot up stratospherically. Producers Julia and Michael Phillips were terrified that the performer would ask for a raise, especially since Columbia was never entirely sold on the project, even though it had agreed to produce the film, and excuses were piling up to delay production. Luckily for everyone, De Niro was an honest guy and he assured them that he was going to work for the contract they signed some time before the Oscars because he really wanted to make that movie.
6. Travis with the face of He notices
Can you imagine Travis Bickle with the face, gestures, and swagger of El Nota, the protagonist of The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998)? Paul Schrader yes. The writer always had Jeff Bridges in mind for the role that would later become iconic Robert De Niro.
7. Travis could have been Tootsie
Bridges wasn't the only actor who could be Travis. Martin Scorsese has stated on more than one occasion that he offered the role of Bickle to Dustin Hoffman, who turned it down after reading it because he thought Scorsese was completely crazy and his movie was crazy. He has declared more than once that he regrets not having accepted it.
8. De Niro, moonlighting
When the film received the long-awaited green light to start shooting, De Niro was already with another project underway: he was in Italy filming Novecento (1976), by Bernardo Bertolucci. He would spend at least a couple of months flying from one country to another while he finished filming one and prepared the role for the next during the weekends driving a taxi fifteen hours each day.
9. Profession of dogs
Despite having won an Academy Award, De Niro was not very popular at the time and he was able to prepare the character of him driving a taxi around New York with relative ease. He was recognized, yes, only once by a passenger, another actor, who regretted that De Niro, who had just won an Oscar, had to work as a taxi driver because the acting profession was not enough for him.
10. Military voice
A matter of method: De Niro copied Travis' Midwestern accent from several American servicemen he met while in Italy while filming Novecento. The actor recorded their conversations and listened to them repeatedly to find the right tone of voice for his character.
11. Harvey with afro hair
In the original script, the pimp that Harvey Keitel would end up playing was African-American. If his pimp looks with long hair is already striking, imagine him with afro hair…
12. Racist killing
In fact, in Paul Schrader's text, Travis only killed African-Americans. “In the original script, the story was a racist massacre,” Schrader declared years ago, they ended up changing it when Scorsese and the producers asked him to do so for fear that it could be misinterpreted and cause some kind of disturbance.
13. From the street to the Actors Studio
Scorsese wanted Harvey Keitel to play the role of Senator Palantine's campaign aide – who was eventually played by Albert Brooks – but the Mean Streets lead was interested in playing the pimp Sport, despite having almost no lines of dialogue in the script. original. When Scorsese asked why, Keitel replied: "I have no idea." One of the reasons, however, why the actor was interested in that character perhaps had to do with acting learning issues: the interpreter knew a pimp from the Hell's Kitchen area and his immersion in the role was such that he took him to the Actors Studio to work side by side on the role.
14. Looking for someone like Cybill until he found Cybill
For the role of Betsy, the aide to Senator Palantine who Travis invites out of her by taking her to a P- theater, Scorsese wanted an actress similar to Cybill Shepherd. "Why don't you call the actress herself if you're looking for someone like her?" Agent Sue Mengers suggested. This is how Shepherd ended up enrolled in the film.
15. Little tune
Producer Julia Phillips has assured on the occasion that Martin Scorsese chose Cybill Shepherd to play Betsy because of the size of her buttocks. Shepherd and Scorsese, however, did not manage to get along while, according to Phillips, during the filming De Niro and the actress also got along quite badly since Scorsese had to increase his lines of dialogue so that Shepherd's presence and interpretation in the film were more believable.
