March 4, 2026
SIFF, Festa Italiana, and Greg Olson Productions Present
MARTIN SCORSESE
MAESTRO OF CINEMA
Taxi Driver (1976) Martin Scorsese: Travis is right on the edge, you know, right from the first frame. I think he has right on the surface a lot of the emotions, a lot of the problems, that most everybody has in them. When I read Paul Schrader’s script, I realized that was exactly the way I felt, that we all have those feelings, so that was a way of embracing them and admitting them, while saying I wasn’t happy about them. I connected to the anger and the rage and the loneliness — not being part of a group, I was always on the outside. You grow up in a neighborhood where a “man” is a guy who can go into a room and slam some people around and win. But I heard my father say different things about what a man is, that had to do with being morally strong. You don’t like a character, but in your deep dark secret self you’ve been thinking that way yourself. It’s from being pushed aside and rejected, rejected, rejected. It’s not a rational, good way to be, but it’s human. New York is my city, and at that time there was a sense of the place just spiraling down into hell. I’m telling you, 42nd Street, Eighth Avenue, that was hell, shooting in those places. That was, like, biblical in my mind — fire and damnation and Jeremiah, and someday a real rain was going to come. It isn’t necessarily explaining the acts of the character, or him. It’s getting into the mindset of the character. We were in an apartment that was going be torn down. I was on the floor, Bob De Niro was reflected in the mirror, Michael Chapman had the camera, and Bob just started improvising — thinking about people coming up to him, saying things. If they said something he didn’t like, he’d have to turn and say, "Are you talking to me? Because that is not a good thing to say to me. Now you’re going to have to deal with me. Are you talking to me?" Bob had his improv rhythm, and did the wonderful line where he admits he’s the only one there, so he must be talking to himself. The key to Travis is the improvisation Bob did with Peter Boyle’s character Wizard. Bob says, "I have these thoughts, these bad ideas in my head." He’s trying like hell to keep those feelings down, but they’re coming out, and the guilt over that is strong. I played the passenger in the backseat. Bob convinced me to do it. What came out, came out. It was honest, open — and extremely unpleasant. Also funny at times, because he got me to do a couple of things. He’s very good at that. I just bounced off Bob, it was the back of his head that did it. I’d say something outrageous and he still wouldn’t move. I was getting him crazy. Because what I was saying was going to instill in him the violence. Thanks to The New Yorker poet, film curator, and teacher Tova Gannana for her film essay.
Directed by: Martin Scorsese Screenplay by: Paul Schrader Cinematography by: Michael Chapman Music by: Bernard Herrmann Edited by: Marcia Lucas (George’s wife), Tom Rolf, Melvin Shapiro Makeup Effects by: Dick Smith THE PLAYERS: Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle Cybill Shepherd as Betsy Jodie Foster as Iris Steensman Peter Boyle as Wizard Harvey Keitel as Sport Albert Brooks as Tom Leonard Harris as Charles Palatine Martin Scorsese as Passenger Diahanne Abbott as Concession Girl Frank Adu as Angry Black Man