Movies - TV
Robert De Niro Made Taxi Driver Extremely Awkward For Jodie Foster
By ANTHONY CRISLIP
Jodie Foster was only 12 when she was cast as the preteen sex worker Iris in the 1976 film “Taxi Driver.” Lead actor Robert De Niro helped her prepare for the role.
Foster and De Niro went on several outings where De Niro, in-character as Travis Bickle, went over the script and helped Foster build her character.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Foster said she initially found the meetings “boring” as “he was pretty socially awkward then.”
However, something “eye-opening” happened to Foster in the process. She began to understand improvisation and the idea of “building a character in a way that was almost nonverbal.”