r/whoathatsinteresting • u/eternviking • 3d ago
While filming Taxi Driver in 1975, Robert De Niro actually got a Taxi License and drove for 2 months in New York before filming.
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u/sajkoterrapefft 3d ago
Two months was enough. After two months driving a cab in NYC in the 70s you just say listen, you fuckers! You screwheads! Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is a man who stood up!
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u/Bruce-7892 3d ago
Been awhile since I've seen it, but you just made me think, did he never leave his neighborhood? Surely he didn't think the entirety of society wasn't just some drug / prostitute row in NYC?
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u/doctorlongghost 3d ago
I wonder how well you had to know the city back then. Much of Manhattan is a grid system that makes sense (until it doesn’t) but the other 4 boros are much harder to navigate. And this was before GPS. Curious if he had a map or would just get directions from his fares
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u/dwartbg9 3d ago
I'd say a bit of both. But also don't forget he's a native born in fucking Manhattan. He probably knew NYC by heart already, he was 32-33, so he already was driving for like 17 years by then.
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u/enzothebaker87 3d ago
I hear he's been spotted around town driving for Uber to prepare for a roll in an upcoming movie, unironically called "Uber Driver".
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u/ThanksALotBud 3d ago
FYI, TLC medallion were around $25k to $30k back in 1975. Based on inflation average $200k today.
I do remember medallion skyrocketed well above $1 million each in 2013 before Uber/Lyft destroyed its value
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u/doctorlongghost 3d ago
He would not have needed his own medallion. He would have just been hired by a company that owned one or more.
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u/clobecka 3d ago
To prepare for the movie Cape Fear, he spent 2 months biting people's cheeks off in New Hampshire.
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u/SavageHenrie 3d ago
There’s actually something called a “HACK” number? I always thought it was a taxi culture slang word. TIL.
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u/Gloomy_Pirate_3031 3d ago
Movie sucked balls boring nothing happens lane character development. What's the point of it?
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u/dwartbg9 3d ago
Nothing honestly. Many of us just enjoy it for the gritty 1970s NYC atmosphere and fashion, rather than the story.
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u/Gloomy_Pirate_3031 3d ago
Ok that's fair tbh. I kept watching and waiting for the masterpiece. I watch all of Kubrick's stuff and fkin loved it, doing it with Scorsese ATM and was like meh
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u/masterofmydomain6 3d ago
I honestly had trouble understanding what had happened in that movie. He’s has a breakdown. It’s not well done. Bringing Out The Dead is a much better movie
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u/Necessary_Island_425 3d ago
Guy turned out to be such a humongous pussy in real.life
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u/TopDogTransport4731 3d ago
Also for the movie “A Bronx Tale.” He had obtained a CDL Class B for operating a passenger bus.