Scorsese, De Niro, Foster and Schrader Reunite at Tribeca for Taxi Driver's 50th Anniversary

Martin Scorsese, Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro and Paul Schrader gathered Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival for a panel marking the 50th anniversary of Taxi Driver. The Independent attended the session. Scorsese, 83, said he cast Foster, then 12, after she arrived at his Manhattan office in her school uniform and discussed the logistics of the shoot in a matter-of-fact way.

“She had an authority,” he recalled. Taxi Driver was released in 1976. Foster played a child sex worker in the film. Foster, 63, said she had already worked as a child actor since age three and had starred in Disney movies and commercials before the production.

“I probably remember more than everybody because I was just watching and listening,” she said. She added that Scorsese and De Niro sometimes fell into fits of giggles while planning uncomfortable scenes, including one in which her character unzipped De Niro’s character’s pants. She said the pair appeared “scared” of her because of the film’s adult material.

She recalled seeing Scorsese’s 1973 film Mean Streets as a child and wanting to join the group. “It felt important, but also whimsical,” she said. I saw Mean Streets [when] I was a kid. ” Foster and De Niro both received Academy Award nominations for their performances in Taxi Driver.