Highlights
- Robert De Niro took a pay cut for his breakout role in Taxi Driver, showing his dedication to the project.
- After his success in The Godfather Part II, De Niro commanded a hefty salary of $500,000 per film.
- De Niro’s earnings continued to rise throughout his career, reaching $14 million per film in the 2000s.
Robert De Niro is widely considered one of the most influential actors of his era. An actor of range and intensity, he’s starred in comedies, crime dramas, and romantic period films. His iconic roles include middleweight boxing champ Jake LaMotta in the 1980 biopic film Raging Bull and gangster Jimmy Conway in the 1990 mafia drama Goodfellas.
For his breakout lead role, De Niro took a pay cut to bring the cash-strapped project to life.
Robert De Niro Did Taxi Driver For Only $35,000
Robert De Niro fetched $500K per film after The Godfather Part II
In 1975, Robert De Niro was Hollywood’s latest hot property after his Oscar-winning performance in The Godfather Part II. With his newfound stature, the 32-year-old New York native commanded $500,000 per film.
However, when director Martin Scorsese had a new gritty drama in the pipeline, De Niro agreed to a salary less than 10% of his current asking price.
Scorsese earlier cast the actor in the 1973 crime film Mean Streets, which stars De Niro as “Johnny Boy” Civello (a small-time gambler) and Harvey Keitel as Charlie Cappa (an emerging mobster).
Mean Streets drew rave reviews and grossed $3 million on a budget of $650,000. Scorsese retained Keitel and cast 11-year-old Jodie Foster for his next film, 1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, which grossed $21 million on a budget of $1.8 million.
Despite his recent success, Scorsese faced similar constraints for his next project, Taxi Driver, which had a budget limit of $1.9 million. De Niro and co-star Cybill Shepherd each agreed to $35,000 salaries for their parts in the film.
In Taxi Driver, De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a Vietnam vet from the Midwest who resides in Manhattan, where he struggles with insomnia and post-traumatic stress. To cope with sleepless nights, he frequents porn theaters and takes work as an off-hours cabbie.
De Niro lost 35 pounds for his role as Travis Bickle, a disheveled character who dwells in a rundown flat. Filming occurred in the summer of 1975 while De Niro worked simultaneously on the Italian period drama 1900. He flew between Rome and NYC for the two parts.
During his time in New York, De Niro drove a taxi cab around the city to get a true feel for the character. He studied the accents of Midwest soldiers and listened to the taped diaries of would-be assassin Arthur Bremer, a Milwaukee busboy who shot and paralyzed US Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace at a Laurel, Maryland, campaign stop in May 1972.
Bickle — despite his misanthropy and foiled assassination plot on fictional presidential candidate Charles Palantine — becomes a celebrated vigilante after he rescues teenage prostitute Iris (Foster) from her pimp Sport (Keitel) in a climactic bloodbath.
De Niro improvised multiple bits of dialog, including the much-mimicked line “You lookin’ at me?” He cultivated the Travis Bickle character on a primal level that resonates with viewers today, almost a half-century since the film’s release.
Given what De Niro did for the role, it’s scary to think that Martin Scorsese almost cast Dustin Hoffman for the lead in Taxi Driver.
De Niro Shot To Fame Thanks To The Godfather Franchise
Robert De Niro didn’t “need” Taxi Driver
In 1974, De Niro won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the young Vito Corleone, a fictional mobster in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II.
The Godfather Part II was the first of four movies co-starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The film was a prequel to Coppola’s 1972 epic crime drama The Godfather, which stars Marlon Brando in a present-day iteration of the titular Vito character: the Don of the fictional Corleone crime family.
At the 47th Academy Awards, The Godfather Part II received eleven Oscar nominations and won six, including Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and Best Original Dramatic Score (Nino Rota, Carmine Coppola).
Aside from Taxi Driver, De Niro also starred in the 1976 films 1900 (an epic 317-minute socio-political period drama set in Mussolini’s Italy) and The Last Tycoon (a romantic 1930s-period film based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unfinished final novel).
De Niro Could Command Hefty Salaries Early In His Career
Taking a pay cut for Taxi Driver didn’t hurt De Niro’s earning power
After his back-to-back triumphs with The Godfather Part II and Taxi Driver, De Niro became one of Hollywood’s leading actors. He next teamed with Scorsese in New York, New York, a Swing-era musical drama co-starring Liza Minnelli.
In 1978, De Niro commanded $1 million for his role as Staff Sergeant Michael Vronsky in The Deer Hunter, an epic war drama co-starring Christopher Walken and (in her first major role) Meryl Streep, who took inspiration from De Niro’s Taxi Driver performance.
De Niro accepted The Deer Hunter just before shooting commenced after the originally slated star, Roy Scheider, backed out at the last minute.
De Niro went on to star in the 1980s and 90s films Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, Goodfellas, and Casino.
Throughout the years, he’s been revered by his colleagues as the consummate professional. De Niro gave personal advice to his Cape Fear co-star Juliette Lewis about her attitude.
In the 2000s, Robert De Niro’s salary rose to $14 million per film.
Source: NewsFinale
