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How actor Robert De Niro’s ‘You talkin’ to me?’ line became famous
- Robert De Niro played the role of Travis Bickle in 'Taxi Driver'
- In the film, De Niro delivered Hollywood's one of the most quotable phrases ever
- Originally, the line 'You talking to me?' wasn't in the script
It’s been 45
years since Martin Scorsese‘s Taxi Driver was released, and it’s still
considered one of the finest Hollywood films of all time by cinephiles
throughout the world. When he portrayed Travis Bickle, Robert De Niro showed us
a guy in the throes of an existential crisis who is trying to keep his feet on
the ground and his head above the water. A mistaken hero in the eyes of the
public, his wrath is simply an attempt to find a cure for loneliness via
violence.
As a result
of Taxi Driver, Hollywood has one of its most quotable phrases ever: “You
talkin’ to me?” While practicing pulling his handgun out of his pocket,
Travis stares at himself in the mirror and mumbles. As he stares into his own
reflection, he says “You talkin’ to me? Then who
the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one
here. Who the f**k do you think you’re talking to?” and glances at
himself with a rather odd expression.
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As a result of his outstanding
performance, Robert De Niro should be given full credit for the classic
statement “You talkin’ to me?”
He not only performed it in an
impressive way but also came up with that line on the spot.
At the film’s 40th anniversary, Scorsese
and De Niro told that this phrase was not in the screenplay at all back in 2016. De Niro was asked to make up something while
he was looking in the mirror. ‘Taxi Driver’ was in its final week of filming,
and logistically, things were “challenging”. De Niro was put in a
room so he could improvise.
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Scorsese recalled, “He
kept saying, ‘You talkin’ to me?’ He just kept repeating it, kept repeating it
… and the (assistant director) was banging on the door saying, ‘Come on, we got
to get out of here.’ And I said, ‘No, this is good, this is good. Give me
another minute.’ It was like a jazz riff. Just like a solo.”
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De Niro claimed he
didn’t know that this line would be a major feature of the film even decades.”With
any of that stuff, you never know.” That’s what you did.”
“Taxi Driver”
was the second film Scorsese and De Niro worked on together following the 1973
film “Mean Streets.” These two actors worked on eight more films
after Taxi Driver, including Raging Bull and Goodfellas. They’ve also worked on
the Netflix series The Irishman. The two are working together on Scorsese’s
next film, Killers of the Flower Moon.
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