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Taxi Driver (1976)
Directed by Martin Scorsese.
Directed by Martin Scorsese · Cut by Marcia Lucas · Music by Bernard Herrmann · 114 min
How it was made
- Robert De Niro obtained an actual taxi driver's licence and drove a cab around New York between flights from Rome, where he was shooting Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 at the time.
- De Niro lost 35 pounds for the role and repeatedly listened to a taped reading of the diaries of would-be assassin Arthur Bremer to prepare.
- Travis Bickle's mohawk haircut was suggested by actor Victor Magnotta, a Vietnam veteran playing a Secret Service agent, who explained its association with soldiers about to go into Special Forces combat.
- Title designer Dan Perri built the opening titles from second-unit footage using a colour-treatment and slit-scan process to create the film's stylised, neon-lit sequence.
- Scorsese desaturated the colour of the final shootout specifically to secure an R rating from the MPAA.
- The shootout scene was filmed inside an actual apartment, and the crew had to cut through the ceiling to get the tracking shot; the sequence took three months of preparation.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Martin Scorsese
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