I remember being very influenced by 'Taxi Driver', and also Tommy Lee Jones in 'Coal Miner's Daughter' a little bit.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
'Taxi Driver' is a movie that changed my life and made me a serious actor. Scorsese and De Niro. I give credit for anything that I've ever done as an actor.
'Taxi Driver' was one of the happiest moments of my career.
I saw 'Taxi Driver,' and 'Taxi Driver' kind of saved my life. The scene where Robert De Niro is looking at himself in the mirror saying, 'You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Who the hell else are you talkin' to?' That's the scene that changed my life by changing my attitude about acting.
I remember sneaking a look at films like 'D.C. Cab' and 'Doctor Detroit' when my parents weren't watching. 'One Crazy Summer' with John Cusack was one of my favorites.
My very first role was with James Earl Jones on 'Gabriel's Fire' on TV. He drove a Chevy Citation, which is the exact same car that I bought from a guy in San Francisco called Sandy Boone. I showed up on set, and James Earl Jones was driving the car I had bought from Sandy for $250.
One summer I remember, I got exposed to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly and Buddy Holly was a very very big, made a very big impression on me. Because of a lot of things, you know, the way he looked and his charisma.
'Taxi Driver' wasn't autobiographical in terms of the actual events, but I did draw on my own mental state.
From 'Midnight Cowboy' to 'Taxi Driver' is a brief era whose grit, beauty, and violence has been quite mythologized.
My influences were Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry.
I really liked John Candy in 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles.' He was so good in that movie.