Dustin Hoffman is highly credited for the making of new Hollywood who won hearts through his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. Given the influence he holds in the cinema world, it won’t be quite a surprise that he would choose the project he wants to get starred in. However, it was not always good in the long run.
Dustin Hoffman Turned Down Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver
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The 85-year-old actor, Dustin Hoffman back in 2007 revealed that he was approached by Martin Scorsese to star in the cult-classic movie, Taxi Driver. What’s more surprising would be the fact that he rejected the lead role of Travis Bickle, which now is on the list of most iconic characters ever created in the entertainment world.
He revealed that he was unaware of the iconic director at that time who just approached him with a concept rather than a script.
“I remember meeting Martin Scorsese. He had no script and I didn’t even know who he was. I hadn’t seen any of his films and he talked a mile a minute telling me what the movie would be about.”
He continued to share how he thought that the director was “crazy.”
“I was thinking, ‘What is he talking about?’ I thought the guy was crazy! The film was Taxi Driver.”
He did have a fair amount of regrets with the 1976 film being one of them.
“I made so many dumb mistakes [turning down hit movies]. The list is endless.”
The iconic role of the taxi driver eventually went to Robert De Niro and the rest is history. This man gave his best efforts to pull off the character and we know that his efforts paid off.
Martin Scorsese Talked About Robert De Niro’s Performance in Taxi Driver
De Niro turned out to be the best actor for the role and honestly, we can’t imagine anyone else pulling off the lead role which he totally nailed. The combination of insanity with loneliness was perfectly explored with the actor even working as a cab driver for a few months to further connect with his role.
The director applauded the Joker star for bringing out the best in his character.
“Bob (De Niro) was very instrumental because he pointed out to me that the first line of dialogue was ‘Turn off the meter.’ And I did one take, and he said to me, ‘When you say – Turn off the meter – make me turn it off. Just make me turn it off.”
He continued,
“I’m not going to turn it off until you convince me that you want me to turn off that meter.’ So, I learned a lot. He sort of acted with the back of his head, but he encouraged me by not responding to me. And using that tension of the inherent violence, I was able to able to take off and riff some dialogue.”
The film was a critical and commercial success and later on, got added to the list of among the greatest films ever made.
Taxi Driver is available on Netflix.
Source: Digital Spy
