brightwalldarkroom:

Ebert: I read that DeNiro really drove a cab to prepare for this role.

Scorsese: Yeah. I drove with him several nights. He got a strange feeling when he was hacking. He was totally anonymous. People would say anything, do anything in the backseat - it was like he didn’t exist. Finally a guy gets in, a former actor, who recognizes his name on the license. “Jesus,” he says, “last year you won the Oscar and now you’re driving a cab again.”