Robert De Niro to reportedly revive ‘Taxi Driver’ role in Uber campaign
Yeah, he’s talkin’ to you.
Robert De Niro will reportedly reprise his iconic “Taxi Driver” role as Travis Bickle in an upcoming Uber ad campaign.
The 80-year-old actor will apparently replicate Bickle’s unforgettable line: “You talkin’ to me,” in the series of ads being filmed in London this week, The Sun reported.
“He’s going to be Travis Bickle, saying some phrases and playing up to it,” an unnamed source told the outlet.
“His previous adverts have shown he has no problem poking fun at himself.”
The Oscar-winner has recently taken on several other ad campaigns — a possible consequence of the star’s costly divorces and separations from the mothers of his seven children.
“A lot of people feel like some of these classic films are his best work, and signing up to commercials is selling out a bit, but obviously he’s had a very expensive personal life,” the source said.
De Niro filed for divorce from his second wife Grace Hightower in 2018 resulting in the two selling their $20 million home.
Under the terms of their prenup, De Niro agreed to pay Hightower $1 million a year in alimony until she remarries or one of them dies.
The couple were together for 20 years with a five-year hiatus, after they divorced for the first time in 2003 only to renew their vows and remarry a year later.
In 2021, the legendary actor’s attorney claimed he was forced to take on jobs in order to pay for the divorce and the expensive alimony payments.
“Mr. De Niro is 77 years old, and while he loves his craft, he should not be forced to work at this prodigious pace because he has to,” his lawyer, Caroline Krauss, told a Manhattan judge during a virtual divorce hearing in 2021.
“When does that stop? When does he get the opportunity to not take every project that comes along and not work six-day weeks, 12-hour days so he can keep pace with Ms. Hightower’s thirst for Stella McCartney?” Krauss said, referring to Hightower and the celebrity designer.
The two-time Oscar winner has done ads before for UK bakery brand Warburton’s Bread, Santander bank and American Express.
He also appeared in a 2019 campaign for the aptly named electric Kia Niro car.
Even though Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film is considered a quintessential New York City flick, the Uber advertisements are being shot in London.
Uber hopes to add other famous passengers as cameos in the series of advertisements, according to the report.
