Jodie Foster Admits She Found Robert De Niro “Really Uninteresting” on ‘Taxi Driver’ Set

Jodie Foster revealed some surprising details about her first experience working with Robert De Niro on the set of Taxi Driver. Speaking at the Marrakech Film Festival while receiving a tribute award, the actress shared that she found De Niro “really uninteresting” when they first met.

Foster, who was just 12 years old at the time, explained that De Niro was deeply focused on his Method approach to the role, which made him seem distant. “We’d run the lines and run the lines a second and third time. And I’m sure maybe some of you have been here when Robert De Niro was here. One of our greatest American actors, so proud to have worked with him — not the most interesting person on earth,” she said.

“And at that time, he was very much in character, the way he was in those days. So he was really uninteresting and I remember having these lunches with him and being like, ‘What is happening? When can I go home?’ And he wouldn’t really be able to talk to me, so I would talk to the waiters and the people in the restaurants.”

Things changed when De Niro invited Foster into his preparation process. “He finally walked me through improvisation by the time we had our third lunch together, and it opened my eyes to what acting could be,” she said.

“And I realized at 12, ‘Oh, it’s my fault because I haven’t brought enough to the table.’ I’ve just been saying lines and waiting for my next line and acting naturally, but building a character is something different.” She recalled feeling excited and inspired after that breakthrough, sharing the moment with her mother.

Foster also discussed her early experience at the Cannes Film Festival with Taxi Driver. The production team was hesitant to bring her due to the costs, but her mother insisted. “My mom said, ‘No, it’s really important. She speaks French. This is Cannes!’ And so we paid for our own flights,” Foster said. She laughed recalling that De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Martin Scorsese were worried about the film’s violent content and potential X rating, leaving her to handle French interviews for the team.

Reflecting on her long career, Foster admitted that acting was never a personal choice. “I would never have chosen to be an actor, I don’t have the personality of an actor. I’m not somebody that wants to dance on a table and, you know, sing songs for people,” she said. “It’s actually just a cruel job that was chosen for me as a young person that I don’t remember starting. So right there, it makes my work a little bit different because I am not interested in acting just for the sake of acting.”

Because of her early start, Foster said she now looks out for young actors today. “I feel like, wait, where are their parents? And why is nobody telling them that they should stop doing so many movies or maybe not be so drunk on the red carpet? I want to take care of them because I know how dangerous it is,” she said.

Despite not choosing acting, Foster said she was drawn to strong characters and central roles. “I didn’t want to be the sister of, the wife of, the daughter of, the girlfriend of. I just wanted the movie to be about me,” she joked. She added that she wanted to make films that mattered, reflecting her second-wave feminist influences.

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