Researching Travis Bickle from the Driver’s Seat
For Taxi Driver, Robert De Niro did more than learn how to handle a cab for a scene: he spent time doing the job in New York. The experience put him inside the ordinary working routine surrounding Travis Bickle, the isolated cabdriver he plays in the film—not just behind the wheel, but in the position of someone whose shift is shaped by traffic, fares, and the city’s changing streets.
That kind of preparation can give an actor practical details that are difficult to reproduce from a script alone: how attention shifts while driving, how a workday feels when it stretches on, and how a driver occupies a cab. It is research through participation, not proof that the actor and character share the same outlook.
The Work Behind the Performance
A cabdriver’s day is built around repeated tasks and brief encounters with strangers. Spending a month in that routine gave De Niro a concrete reference point for playing a character whose job keeps him moving through New York while leaving him alone with his thoughts. The distinction matters: the work helped him inhabit the occupation, while Bickle’s particular beliefs and actions belong to the fictional character.
The preparation’s memorable detail is its scale. De Niro took on the job in full shifts, so the role’s working world was something he experienced over time—not merely a prop and a few rehearsed motions on set.
