Of course, De Niro has had a long history of memorable performances. Everyone knows 'Taxi Driver' and 'Raging Bull,' but 'Awakenings' really did something for me.
I probably learned, being in 'Taxi Driver' before I made my first film, I would come to the set every day just to watch how that film came about. It's like a graduate course: it's terrific. You talk to the cinematographer during the breaks. You ask the electrician why they are doing this.
Each employed immigrant has his or her place of work. It is only the taxi driver, forever moving on wheels, who occupies no fixed space. He represents the immigrant condition.
I've played Beckett. I put on in the 1950s the first Australian production of 'Waiting for Godot.' I played Estragon. The most interesting conversation I've had about Beckett was with a Dublin taxi driver.
'Taxi Driver' was one of the happiest moments of my career.
One of the things about the '70s films I love - the films 'Nightcrawler' is being compared to, like, 'Taxi Driver' - is that they never put their flawed characters into any one box.
My mom came to America when I was six years old, and I didn't live with them until I was ten. They worked really hard in factories, and my dad as a taxi driver, to be able to afford visas for my sister and I.
When I was growing up in New York City, my father was a taxi driver for a time.
When I was really little, I wanted to be a taxi driver or a bus driver; I loved the fact that I could play my own music when I wanted. But I can't imagine actually doing that now; I think I'd get bored.
My paternal poppa, Alec, was a taxi driver and swimming coach. He taught all his grandchildren how to swim and loved all kinds of sport.
