NEW YORK — You talkin’ to me? Sorry, not this time.
Robert De Niro bypassed waiting media on the red carpet late last month before heading into a Tribeca Film Festival screening of “Taxi Driver” in celebration of the iconic film’s 40th anniversary.
But inside, he introduced the film at the Beacon Theatre as cast and key creators reunited, mocking the famous line of his famous character, deranged driver Travis Bickle.
De Niro reportedly told the crowd every day for 40 (expletive) years “at least one of you has come up to me and said — what do you think — ‘You talkin’ to me?’ ”
Director Martin Scorsese, who was a no-show on the red carpet, also attended. Cast members Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd and the screenwriter Paul Schrader posed for photos and shared memories with reporters about their roles in the film considered by some to be in the Top 100 of all time.
Foster was only 12 but already a Hollywood veteran when she played Iris, a runaway who becomes a kid prostitute. Foster began her career as a toddler in modeling and acting in commercials and had worked with Scorsese, playing delinquent tomboy Audrey in his 1974 film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” two years before “Taxi Driver” was released.
What did her 12-year-old self recall about the role in Scorsese’s filthy, mid-70s New York City, and of the blood and sex scenes?
“I knew it was great, and I knew that I was excited to work with Scorsese, enough to fly myself to New York and put myself at a hotel in order to play the part,” said Foster, who was raised in Los Angeles. “I knew that it was something worthwhile.”
She called her memories “all good,” except, perhaps, for the platform shoes she had to wear.
“And I didn’t like the hot pants. I was embarrassed to have to walk down the street like that,” Foster said.
Shepherd, meanwhile, was in it for the chance to work with Scorsese and De Niro.
“It was one of the best experiences of my entire career,” she said.
