10 Subtle Instances Of Method Acting You Never Even Knew About

3. Robert De Niro Spent A Month Driving A Taxi To Prepare For His Role In Taxi Driver

There's no doubt that "greatest actor ever" Robert De Niro was so inclined to get his part as Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver right that he opted to drive a taxi for a few weeks, in order to get a feel for the clientele the shift patterns, and the overall lifestyle. Everybody knows that, right?

Legend has it, however, that De Niro went much, much further: some sources state that he did continuous 12-hour shifts for an entire month, leading to a real life case of Bickle-esque insomnia. Whether that's an accurate account of what happened or not, it sounds like a very De Niro thing to do, given his reputation for immersion. In this case, his brief stint as an actual cab driver made him look comfortable in his role (although he plays an incredibly uncomfortable character), and paid off in droves.

He looks tired and exhausted, and the background work certainly helped to cement that. It was a minor touch, of course, and one that might never have been made public had something not mentioned it off-hand in any inteview - it's just nice to know that some actors are prepared to go that extra mile (get it? "Mile" - cause of the driving).