— Ch. 1 · Origins And Development —
Taxi Driver.
~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
Paul Schrader wrote the screenplay for Taxi Driver in under a fortnight during 1974. He had spent weeks living in his car after a divorce and a breakup with a live-in girlfriend. The writer drew inspiration from his own experience of chronic insomnia while battling life in New York City. He frequented pornographic bookstores and theaters because they remained open all night. Schrader realized he was like the character Travis Bickle, a person floating alone in an iron box. He stated that the metaphor of the taxi occurred to him when he hadn't spoken to anyone in weeks. Before Scorsese was hired, John Milius and Irvin Kershner were considered to helm the project. Brian De Palma introduced Martin Scorsese to Paul Schrader. Scorsese wanted to evoke within the viewer the feeling of being in a limbo state between sleeping and waking. He cited Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man as an influence on his camerawork.
Production Challenges
Filming began in summer 1975 during a New York City heat wave and sanitation strike. Columbia Pictures gave Scorsese a budget of $1.3 million initially but the final production cost reached $1.9 million. Various actors took pay cuts to ensure the project could be completed. Robert De Niro and Cybill Shepherd received only $35,000 to make the film. Scorsese himself was given just $65,000 for directing. The crew had no time nor money to do traditional things so they used available light to shoot scenes inside the taxi. Sound technicians would get in the trunk while Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman ensconced themselves on the back seat floor. The tracking was shot over the shootout scene which took three months of preparation. The production team had to cut through the ceiling to shoot it. They filmed on New York City's West Side at a time when the city was on the brink of bankruptcy. Producer Michael Phillips noted that row after row of condemned buildings were used to build their sets.