‘Taxi Driver’ Writer Slams Robert De Niro for Reprising Travis Bickle Role in Uber Ad: ‘Why Bob Would Do This Is Beyond My Reckoning’
variety.comMichaela Zee “Taxi Driver” screenwriter Paul Schrader has expressed his disapproval of Robert De Niro reprising his role as Travis Bickle in an Uber ad campaign. “Ouch.
Why Bob would do this is beyond my reckoning,” Schrader wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening. “But I haven’t seen it. If I’m lucky I never will.” Reports began circulating this week about De Niro playing the troubled New York cabbie from Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film for an upcoming Uber campaign.
The neo-noir psychological thriller scored four Oscar nominations, including best picture and best actor in a leading role for De Niro’s performance as Travis.
After penning the screenplay for Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” Schrader continued his collaboration with the Oscar-winning director, writing or co-writing “Raging Bull” (1980), “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988) and “Bringing Out the Dead” (1999).
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