The team behind the gritty masterpiece Taxi Driver is getting back together for its 40th anniversary: Director Martin Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader will join Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster and Cybill Shepherd for a conversation after a screening for the Tribeca Film Festival on April 21st. De Niro, who co-founded the festival, said, "It’s a great honor for TFF to revisit Taxi Driver. I’m very proud to have worked on this film with Marty, Jodie, Harvey, Cybill, Paul, Michael and Julia as well as the extraordinary cast and crew. I remain equally proud today."
De Niro portrayed Travis Bickle, a Vietnam vet turned taxi driver whose insomnia allows him to drive his cab for hours at night. He yearns for normalcy and order in the chaotic and dirty Big Apple, but his paranoia and delusions turn his feelings and interactions violent, as he tries to romance a presidential campaign staffer (Shepherd) and also save a 12-year-old prostitute (Foster) from the control of a pimp (Harvey Keitel).
"Taxi Driver is one of the most brilliantly disturbing movies ever made, and why I chose to go into film. It's had an indelible impact on pop culture, and its performances rank among the most memorable in cinema," said festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal. "It's a great honor to have the original cast at the Festival and to present this masterpiece to a new generation."
Scorsese added, "It’s odd to think that four decades have passed since we shot Taxi Driver on the streets of a very different New York City. It was made in a surge of energy, starting with Paul’s one-of-a-kind script, and I was working with an extraordinary group of artistic collaborators as anyone could ever hope for—Jodie, who was 13 years old at the time, and Bob gave the picture something precious, dangerous, and altogether remarkable."
The screening and conversation will be at the Beacon Theater. The talk will be moderated by Kent Jones and the film shown will be a digitally restored and re-mastered Taxi Driver in 4K from the original negative. Tickets will be available beginning March 24 at 10am EST by visiting beacontheatre.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 866-858-0008. The evening is sponsored by Infor. The Tribeca Film Festival will take place April 13-24.
