Paul Schrader Says ‘Taxi Driver’ Sequel Was The ‘Dumbest’ Idea

Director/Writer Paul Schrader is thrust back into the spotlight with his new film The Canyons. The film which stars Lindsay Lohan and porn star James Deen, hasn’t had the best press over the last few months. The upside is that it has also given Schrader a platform to give a few details about his projects that made him a renowned storyteller. In a tidbit that comes as a bit of a surprise, Schrader reveals something about the film Taxi Driver that never came to fruition.

Take for example, the Taxi Driver sequel. The writer behind the original Taxi Driver film recently revealed during a Reddit AMA chat that a sequel might have been in the works. In the same sentence he then admitted it was the “dumbest idea” that he ever heard. Back then star Robert De Niro had the idea and approached director Martin Scorsese with it. Schrader elaborated on the exchange:

“I told him that character had died not more than 6 months after that movie was over. He was on a death trip and was gonna succeed the next time.”

As we know De Niro does like to capitalize on his films that hit it big with a few follow-up sequels, think Analyze That and all of those Focker movies. Taxi Driver wasn’t an automatic hit even though it went on to be a cult classic film. At the time the reception at the Cannes Film Festival didn’t go according to plan. When the film won the coveted Palm d’Or award the crowd starting to boo. At the time director Martin Scorsese was present for the festival, but not during the announcement.

Scorsese and Robert De Niro followed that up with six more films together — New York, New York, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, and Casino. It’s rumored that the two may team up again for the long gestated film about Frank Sinatra, which might see Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role.

Are you surprised about the Taxi Driver sequel?