Robert De Niro is reportedly set to reprise his iconic role as Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver” for an upcoming Uber ad campaign.
It’ll be odd seeing an 80-year-old Bickle uttering: “You talkin’ to me,” in the series of ads being filmed in London this week. “He’s going to be Travis Bickle, saying some phrases and playing up to it,” an unnamed source says.
Bickle was a lonely veteran who has been forgotten and abandoned by society. He took up a job as a taxi driver to avoid his own loneliness, only to be exposed to the corruption and hypocrisy of the outside world. Slowly, but surely, the man would lose his mind.
Bickle is one of De Niro’s most iconic characters, the other ones being Jake LaMotta in “Raging Bull,” Vito Corleone in “The Godfather,” Rupert Pukin in “King of Comedy,” Jimmy Conway in “Goodfellas,” and Noodles in “Once Upon A Time in America.” There are a few more, but these are the ones that currently pop into my head.