Sometimes improvising can completely change the future of a film. And Robert de Niro proved it by inventing this line which has today remained in the annals.
Sometimes, the history of the seventh art depends on very little. An improvisation can enter popular culture and make a work cult. Robert de Niro proved it with one of his most memorable lines of all time. Although he completely invented it and it was not planned in the original screenplay, it will become one of the most famous lines in Hollywood cinema.
The actor, now 80 years old, plays Travis Bickle, a taxi driver who falls into a spiral of violence, in Taxi Driver, a cult film by Martin Scorsese which won the Palme d'Or in 1976. This veteran of the Vietnam War observes the daily violence that rages at night in New York and gradually loses his reason. He then decides to take justice into his own hands and in particular to save a minor prostitute from her pimps.
In a scene from Taxi Driver that has become memorable, Robert de Niro stares at his reflection in a mirror and declares: "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to ?You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. In French, the full line is as follows: "Is it to me that you're talking to? Is it to me that you're talking to? Is it to me that you're talking to? So who are you talking to? Are you talking? Do you see anyone other than me here? I don't see anyone other than me here, so are you going to say it, yes or no?
And incredible but true, this scene, which has gone down in history, was completely improvised by De Niro on the set of the film. The screenplay written by Paul Schrader simply mentioned that Travis Bickle was talking to himself in front of the mirror, without mentioning the content of his words, the screenwriter later clarified. According to the memoirs of saxophonist Clarence Clemons, which reports comments the actor made on the set of the film New York New York, he was inspired by a Bruce Springsteen concert in Los Angeles the previous year, which would have laid the famous question to his audience: “You talkin’ to me?”.
This line is remembered and has become a pillar of popular culture. It has been used in several sketches, films or series, whether in Back to the Future 3, La Haine, The Lion King, or even Dikkenek or Kin, the Beginning.
