10 Improvised Movie Moments That Made The Film Much Better
8. Robert De Niro Makes Taxi Driver
Paul Schrader is a crazy person. The writer of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro's breakthrough hit poured a troubling amount of his own life into the story of slowly fracturing taxi driver and Vietnam vet Travis Bickle. Schrader's own perversions, Catholic guilt and dark thoughts all informed his screenplay. For the most part, the character of Bickle was there on the page. In fact, Scorsese might even have toned it down a little for the screen. De Niro, meanwhile, was already well into his method acting phase, keeping a journal in character and taking a few spins as an IRL taxi driver in New York's dodgiest areas. Schrader might have been the one to originate Travis Bickle, but Robert De Niro brought him to life. Besides all that preparatory work, he also improvised his most iconic line: the script called for him to just stare intensely into the mirror, but the actor came up with that You talking to me? bit that's been endlessly quoted and parodied, and showed how truly unhinged Bickle was.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
