In a career-spanning video interview for GQ magazine, Martin Scorsese expressed regret about how many people now resemble Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), the central character from his film “Taxi Driver” . Vietnam War veteran Travis, who is violent and lonely, becomes acquainted with a juvenile prostitute as his mental health deteriorates. Travis has been compared to an incel by some screenwriters. Scorsese recounted the creation of Travis’ character. “We kept thinking in terms of the character and his loneliness and his acting out, not condoning the acting out, but he does act out and yet an empathy with him, which is really tricky. Ultimately, what stayed with us was the psychological and emotional state of that character. As we know now, tragically, it’s a norm that every other person is like Travis Bickle.”
In addition, Scorsese recalled the filming of “Raging Bull” (1980), a dramatization of the turbulent career of middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta (also portrayed by De Niro). Scorsese continued in support of his right to create films based on monstrosity in men, “This man may be this way but he still is a human being. He’s got a heart. He’s got a soul. By the end of it, he finds some kind of peace with himself and maybe the others around him. I think I was going there to try to find piece of myself.”
Due to a rumor that De Niro might be recreating the famous character for a new Uber ad, Travis Bickle has recently been in the news. De Niro will appear as an Uber pitchman in the U.K. later this year, the business later revealed. However, it emphasized that the ad does not have a “Taxi Driver” theme. The firm released a statement saying, “We are filming with Robert De Niro in London for a new Uber U.K. campaign, which will launch later in the year.” Additionally, according to De Niro’s publicist Stan Rosenfield, the actor is not reprising the role of Bickle for the commercial or quoting the character’s catchphrase, “You talkin’ to me?”
