"Taxi Driver" Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader and the impact created in the 70's *Note! Contains spoilers.

Brian De Palma combines three talents

It started with a scenario written by Paul Schrader about a New York driver. Schrader, who was a critic before becoming a screenwriter, is also known as the author of `` Sacred Cinema: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer '' (published by Film Art), which has also been translated into Japanese.

However, he lost his important writing job, was in financial difficulty, and was facing the threat of divorce in his A Very Private Affair. He found himself at a dead end, living in his car on the streets of Los Angeles and sleeping in porn movie theaters at night. Eventually, he developed a stomach ulcer and was hospitalized. He didn't speak to anyone for a month. It was during this time that he came up with the idea for a movie about a New York taxi driver.

After being discharged from the hospital, he holed up at his ex-girlfriend's house and wrote the first draft in two weeks. His feelings at the time were also entrusted to it (Schrader was 27 years old, but the main character of the movie is set to be 26 years old). However, the script did not see the light of day immediately and remained abandoned.

"Taxi Driver" (c)1976 COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES,INC.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Brian De Palma, a film director known for films such as `` Carrie '' (1976), was the first to become interested in making a film. He met Schrader after working on the masterpiece `` Obsession '' (1976), and he read the script for ``Taxi Driver'' and fell in love with him. However, he did not think he was suitable to be a director, so he introduced his friend Martin Scorsese to Schrader (at the time, they were known as ``the ninth generation of Hollywood directors,'' along with Spielberg and Lucas, and were close friends).

It was De Palma who once introduced Robert De Niro to Scorsese. Before gaining recognition as a director in the mystery and horror genres, De Palma worked in the independent film industry making experimental films in the style of Godard. A young De Niro starred in works set in New York, such as ``Blue Manhattan II'' (68) and ``Blue Manhattan I'' (70). ).

In this way, De Palma connected the talents of Schrader, Scorsese, and De Niro, and the core of ``Taxi Driver'' was created. De Palma also introduced Scorsese to the famous composer Bernard Herrmann , with whom he collaborated on `` The Sisters '' (1973) and ``Obsession.'' It was also decided that Herrmann would be participating (the haunting music for ``Taxi Driver'' was his posthumous work, completed the day before his death). It was produced by Michael and Julia Phillips, a married couple known as hitmakers in the 1970s who worked on `` The Sting '' (1973).

“Obsession” preview

Before all these members were in place, there was a time when the project was in progress with Jeff Bridges starring and Robert Mulligan directing, but in the end Scorsese was given the lead. Scorsese describes his impressions when he read the script: ``It felt as if I had written it myself. There were some things that were different from my own style, but the content was very easy to understand. , a strong emotion welled up in me. I thought this was the movie I should make.'' (``Taxi Driver'' scenario book, 1990, published by Faber & Faber)

Although investors were not immediately found, Columbia Pictures ended up producing the film on a low budget of $1.3 million. The participants said they were forced to take a cut in their pay, but they took on the challenge of taking on this work not for reward, but to demonstrate their creativity.

De Niro impersonates a real driver, creating a realistic location