The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay “A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine.  Fabulous!” Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker

May 2015 back issue

by Steve Shapiro

Taxi Driver the Martin Scorsese film shot in New York some forty years ago connects more than ever, with the mind set of today.   Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, returns from Special Forces combat and decides to drive a cab at night because he can’t sleep. He is on pills and has a strong knowledge of weaponry. More than that he is detached from the world he has returned to.   That is exactly the experience today for many soldiers who have returned from Iraq and Afganistan. The adjustment back to civilian life is not easy. War experience changes you, and confuses  emotional values. It is a totally different world.  At times it leads to violence.   Robert De Niro drove a New York cab at night for a month before shooting Taxi Driver to equip himself to play the role. He is an actor, who in his serious roles becomes entirely the character he is playing both internally and externally, and that is part of his great talent. When the director says ‘cut’ De Niro maintains his character’s personality and does not return to being Robert De Niro.   It is said that Scorsese and Paul Schrader saw Taxi Driver as a religious movie. Both had at one point considered going into a religious life. Travis is seen as a potential martyr whose gun in the end does not go off on himself.   Jodie Foster was just twelve years old when she was cast for the part of ‘Iris’, an amazing performance from a girl whose acting experience was predominantly in Disney family films. She acted out the part like an incredibly seasoned actress. A social welfare person had to be on the set at all times because of her age and her sister was her body double for any scene that might seem raunchy.   Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro have known each other for a long time and have often worked with Scorsese. Taxi Driver was filmed in the hot and depressing New York nights of 1975 where the city seemed to weigh down upon its inhabitants, a city familiar to both actors. The tension of the city found its way into their performances.   “Are You Talkin to Me” became one of the most memorable movie lines ever. It was totally improvised. Scorsese, with De Niro looking into the mirror, said, “say something” and Bobby De Niro did.   Ultimately there was fake blood all over the set. The studio desaturized the deep red blood color from the film prints that went out,  and it is said that none survive with the original coloring. There was a moment during the filming of the brutal and intense final scene when suddenly everyone laughed as a release to their tensions. But throughout the movie Martin Scorsese often sat between takes with a clenched fist to his face taking on the agony of the filmed moments as if they were real.