Summary
- The iconic mirror scene in Taxi Driver, where Robert De Niro improvises the line “You talkin’ to me?”, almost didn’t make it into the film due to time constraints.
- Taxi Driver was a critical and commercial success upon its release in 1976, earning multiple Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for De Niro.
- Martin Scorsese, the director of Taxi Driver, has been nominated for Best Director a record-breaking ten times, with his latest nomination being for his film Killers of the Flower Moon.
If producers had their way, one iconic scene in Martin Scorsese‘s Taxi Driver may not have been included in the 1976 film. During a recent conversation with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, Scorsese revealed that the movie’s mirror scene (where Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle famously asks, “You talkin’ to me?”) was completely improvised by De Niro. Filming for Taxi Driver had fallen behind schedule, and producers urged De Niro to move on from the scene, but Scorsese did not oblige. He told Colbert:
“We were behind schedule. We were in such trouble. They were banging on the door and I had to open the door and say, “This is good. This is good.” Two more minutes. One more take. He was improvising. I was at his feet. There were no video assists. I was saying, “Do it again, do it again.” He’s doing the thing with the moves and the gun and that. Columbus Avenue we shot that. Some of the buildings now are gone. Condemned buildings.”
As Colbert noted, had Scorsese “stayed on schedule, there would be no, ‘You talkin’ to me?'” You can watch the entire exchange below.
Martin Scorsese Breaks Steven Spielberg’s Oscars Record with Killers of the Flower Moon Nomination
Martin Scorsese’s 10th Best Director nomination sets a new Academy Awards record.
Martin Scorsese Makes Academy Award History with Killers of the Flower Moon Nod
Taxi Driver was written by Paul Schrader and marked the first acclaimed project scribed by Schrader and helmed by Scorsese – the two reunited for 1980’s Raging Bull. When Taxi Driver was released in 1976, it quickly amassed critical and commercial success, and earned four Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Actor (De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster).
Taxi Driver was Scorsese’s fifth directorial feature and his second with De Niro; the two have since become frequent collaborators. They most recently joined forces for Killers of the Flower Moon, a crime epic based on the harrowing murders of the resource-wealthy Osage. Scorsese is at the helm of the film, while De Niro appears as William King Hale, a major player in the Osage Indian murders.
The film earned ten Academy Award nods, including Best Picture, Best Actress (for Lily Gladstone), Best Supporting Actor (for De Niro), and Best Director. This marks Scorsese’s tenth nomination for Best Director, making him the most nominated living director in Oscars history.
Killers of the Flower Moon is streaming on Apple TV+.
