Taxi Driver

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Taxi Driver Trivia

Travis Bickle's famous "You talkin' to me?" scene may have been inspired by Robert De Niro's training under Stella Adler, who (as an exercise) had her students practice different interpretations of a similar phrase. The legendary acting teacher was surprised to see one of her former students use "You talkin' to me?" as a psychotic mantra. Martin Scorsese was encouraging De Niro just below the camera while shooting the scene, which lead to the rest of the "dialogue" Bickle has with his mirror.
Kristy McNichol auditioned six times for the role of Iris before losing out to Jodie Foster.
The line "You talking to me?" was voted as the #10 movie quote by the American Film Institute, and as as the #8 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
Robert De Niro worked twelve hour days for a month driving cabs as preparation for this role. He also studied mental illness.
Meryl Streep reportedly turned down the role of Betsy.
In Paul Schrader's original screenplay, the characters of Sport, the Mafioso and the hotel clerk were all black. Martin Scorsese felt that, combined with other events in the film, this would have stacked the deck too much towards racism, and suggested that those characters be changed to white men. Schrader relented.
When Brian De Palma was attached to the project, he wanted Melanie Griffith to play Iris, but after two weeks of casting, both Griffth and De Palma were fired. Martin Scorsese replaced Griffith with Linda Blair. However, Blair also withdrew, and Scorsese later replaced Blair with Jodie Foster, but there were more than 200 applicants for the role. Scorsese said that Jodie had the ability to play a 12-year-old prostitute.
Rock Hudson was once considered for the role of Charles Palantine, but was not able to due to his commitment to the TV series, "McMillan & Wife" (1971).
In this film, Jodie Foster plays a woman held captive by the villain, played by Harvey Keitel. Robert De Niro's actions in this film provoked John Hinckley, who was obsessed with Foster, to try to get her attention by shooting President Ronald Reagan. The opportunity to reverse her role in this film, and also distance herself from Hinkley, is in part what inspired Foster to take the role of the heroine and rescuer in The Silence of the Lambs. Ironically, Harvey Keitel would play her future mentor in the prequel, Red Dragon.
Robert De Niro has claimed that the "You talkin' to me?" scene was inspired by Bruce Springsteen's banter with his audience at a mid-'70s gig
Before Jodie Foster was eventually cast as Iris, there were more than 250 applicants for the role, including newcomers Carrie Fisher, Mariel Hemingway, Bo Derek, Kim Cattrall, Rosanna Arquette, Kristy McNichol and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Around the time Tony Bill was considering directing the movie, the Paul Schrader script was sent to Al Pacino, but he declined the role. Julia Phillips never knew whether Pacino declined the role because he didn't like the script or because he didn't want to work with Bill.
Liza Minnelli and Barbara Hershey were each offered the role of Betsy, but both turned it down.
Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies".
Harvey Keitel was originally offered the part of the campaign worker, eventually played by Albert Brooks. He decided to take the role as the pimp, even though in the script he was black and only had about five lines.
Jodie Foster was 12 years old when the movie was filmed, so she could not do the more explicit scenes. (Her character was also 12 years old.) Connie Foster, Jodie's 19-year-old sister when the film was produced, was cast as her body double for those scenes.
Goldie Hawn did an audition for the role of Betsy.
Director Martin Scorsese claims that the most important shot in the movie is when Bickle is on the phone trying to get another date with Betsy. The camera moves to the side slowly and pans down the long, empty hallway next to Bickle, as if to suggest that the phone conversation is too painful and pathetic to bear.
Debra Winger, when she was just starting out as an actress, auditioned for the role of Iris.
Uncredited Tom Scott delivered the dominant, haunting alto saxophone solos over the Bernard Herrmann score.
Paul Schrader was inspired to write the script after reading the published diary of Arthur Bremer, the man who was convicted of shooting presidential hopeful George Wallace (IV). Eerily, Bremer was 26 years old in 1976 (the year the film was released), the same age as Travis Bickle in the film. And Schrader himself was 26 when he first wrote the screenplay, in 1972.
The girl with whom Martin Scorsese studied in order to prepare for the role of Iris (played by Jodie Foster, the actress who won the role) also appears in the film, as Iris' friend on the street.
Harvey Keitel rehearsed with actual pimps to prepare for his role. The scene where his character and Iris dance is improvised, and is one of only two scenes in the film that don't focus on Bickle.
Paul Schrader guessed that the thought of isolated anti-hero being a taxi driver may have been instilled by the Harry Chapin song "Taxi," which was a big hit at the time.
Linda Blair was the second choice to play Iris.
In an early scene, another taxi driver shows Travis Bickle a piece of Errol Flynn's bathtub that he owns. Errol Flynn would be a character (played by Jude Law) in a later Martin Scorsese movie - The Aviator.
Producer Julia Phillips tells in her auto-biography that Cybill Shepherd had a hard time remembering her lines during the coffee-and-pie scene with Robert De Niro. She writes that De Niro in particular was getting fed up with her and that Phillips and editor Marcia Lucas laughed over all the unusable footage they had to work with in the editing room.
Isabelle Adjani and Ornella Muti were each offered the role of Iris, but both turned it down.
Martin Scorsese has said he offered the role of Travis Bickle to Dustin Hoffman. According to Hoffman, he turned the role down because he "thought [Scorsese] was crazy!" He has since regretted his decision.
Robert De Niro claimed that the final shootout scene took particularly long, because of both technical problems and the humor which arose from the tension created by the carnage in the scene.
Jeff Bridges was considered for the part of Travis Bickle.
A nationwide search for a young actress to play the part of Iris was narrowed down to five finalists. Jodie Foster beat Mariel Hemingway, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Heather Locklear and Kristy McNichol for the role of Iris.
Anissa Jones reportedly turned down the role of Iris.
The record that Travis buys for Betsy is "The Silver Tongued Devil and I" by Kris Kristofferson. In the restaurant they quote from a song on the album, "Pilgrim Chapter 33" ("he's a prophet...").
Various studios considered producing this film; one suggested Neil Diamond for the lead role.
Melanie Griffith was originally offered the role of Iris, but her mother Tippi Hedren made her turn down the offer. She was the first choice to play the part.
Mary Steenburgen auditioned for the role of Betsy and was director Martin Scorsese's preferred choice.
The producers were looking for a "Cybill Shepherd" type to play the female lead in the film. When agent Sue Mengers heard this, she reportedly called them and asked why not hire Cybill Shepherd.
Robert De Niro studied Midwestern dialects to come up with Travis Bickle's flat voice.
Jane Seymour auditioned for the role of Betsy. Both Glenn Close and Susan Sarandon also auditioned for the role but turned it down.
DIRCAMEO(Martin Scorsese): sitting down, behind Betsy as she walks into the Palantine campaign headquarters in slow-motion. He also appears as the irate husband in Bickle's cab.
When talking to the secret service agent, Bickel gives the false name of Henry Krinkle. Steve Burns of Blue's Clues has a song called "Henry Krinkle's Lament" on his CD "Song for Dustmites."
In the lyrics to their song "Red Angel Dragnet," long-running British rock band The Clash mention Travis by name and then include two Travis quotes: "one of these days I'm gonna get myself organized," and, "all the animals come out at night: queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick venal - some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets."
After seeing "every blonde in town", producer Julia Phillips still preferred Farrah Fawcett over Cybill Shepherd for the role of Betsy.
The restaurant where the cabbies gather to eat was a real-life hangout for taxi drivers called the Belmore Cafeteria at 28th St. and Park Avenue South. It has since been demolished, but the apartment building that replaced it is named the Belmore.
In the coffee and pie scene, Travis orders apple pie with melted cheese. When serial killer Ed Gein was arrested, he asked the police for a slice of apple pie with melted cheese in exchange for a full confession.
Due to injuries sustained in an accident during the production of the 1975 movie The Farmer (1977) actor George Memmoli had to decline the bit-part of the Travis's disturbed passenger who was ultimately played by the film's director Martin Scorsese.
Paul Schrader wrote the part of Travis with Jeff Bridges in mind.
Jodie Foster, the actress who got the role of Iris, was actually the third choice to play it.
Mia Farrow reportedly wanted the role of Betsy but Martin Scorsese turned her down.