Jodie Foster got fed up with this Hollywood legend: “He wasn’t interesting at all”
The actress recalls experiencing an “epiphany” while filming ‘Taxi Driver’ when just 14 years old. The movie is now considered a cult classic.
Jodie Foster has spent a lifetime in Hollywood, long before winning her first Oscar in 1989 for The Accused. By the early 1970s, she was already appearing in films as a child actor.
Her breakthrough came in 1976 with Martin Scorsese’s cult classic Taxi Driver, starring Robert De Niro. At just 14, Foster earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Yet, behind the scenes, she found De Niro to be “the least interesting person in the world.”
Rehearsals that felt like a chore
Speaking recently at the Marrakech Film Festival, Foster explained that De Niro would take her to cafés to rehearse lines over and over—a process she found unbearable at the time: “We repeated the dialogues two or three times in a row. I’m proud to have worked with him, one of the greatest American actors, but he wasn’t the most interesting person on the planet,” Foster admitted.
She recalled sitting through meals with him, frustrated by his silence: “He couldn’t talk to me, so I ended up chatting with waiters and people in the restaurants. Finally, during our third meal together, he showed me what improvisation could be, and that opened my eyes to acting in a whole new way.”
A turning point at just 12
That moment became a revelation for Foster: “I realized at 12 years old: ‘Oh, it’s my fault because I’ve never tried enough new things.’ I had just been repeating lines and acting naturally, but building a character is something different. I remember being sweaty, excited, and happy, running back to the hotel room to tell my mom, ‘I had an epiphany.’ From then on, everything changed.”
Working with De Niro proved pivotal. Foster went on to win two Oscars and earn three additional nominations, most recently in 2024 for Nyad.
Where to watch ‘Taxi Driver’
For those who want to revisit the iconic pairing of a young Jodie Foster and a fully established Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver is available in the US on platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV+.
The film’s synopsis captures its enduring power: “A mentally troubled veteran works as a taxi driver in New York City, where his perception of urban decay fuels his violent impulses.”
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