Joker’s structure leans very heavily on two different Martin Scorsese films. The first is Taxi Driver, the 1976 movie about a loner named Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro, who co-stars in Joker) who slowly succumbs to loneliness and madness before going on a mass killing spree. Besides the generally similar story arc here are a few more details the two films share: Both protagonists write their dark thoughts in journals, both fixate on powerful political figures, both have delusional thoughts that make it tough to tell whether every moment onscreen is really happening, both characters completely change their physical appearance as part of their mental breakdown, and both characters mime blowing their own brains out by pointing finger guns at their temples.

What is your favorite movie? -AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Here's some: Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, Stroszek.

Want to watch this movie.

After watching Taxi Driver and seeing Travis, I felt this immense similarity between the character and myself. He lives in New York, surrounded by so many people, but he still felt lonely. This surprised me, and I thought “Here is this guy, living in America, who is like me.” Seeing his character, I felt relaxed and realized there are others like me. I felt I was okay.

And I often say, and I still say, that my favorite film is Taxi Driver — first of all, because it’s a great film.

When you are watching Travis Bickle is a different experience than most films because, when you are watching the character and the decisions they do, they are doing usually the smarter version of decisions you would have done, and they are going to face a lot of consequences and you are rooting for them. (25:59s)

We are just trying to pay homage to work of a guy we really respect. I see Elliot similar in ways to Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, and I heard people comparing them, that's a great compliment to me. I'm a huge Scorsese fan.

I remember clearly on the day of my grandfather’s funeral, when all the parents were distracted and no one was going to tell me off, I watched two films: Shallow Grave and Taxi Driver.

[Taxi Driver is] a film that really kind of struck me on an emotional level and as somebody who works and can kind of appreciate how films are made. I remember when I saw Taxi Driver for the first time, and I saw the creativity and the imagination that went into the shots that Scorsese chose, and to really kind of capture a very particular kind of New York. I thought it was really wonderful.

I remember being very influenced by 'Taxi Driver'.

I was torn between saying Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy or Mean Streets.

[On similarity of his movie "You Were Never Really Here" to the "Taxi Driver"] I was asked about it, I can understand why people would draw the comparison to it. I think it is unfair... I mean it is still very nice, this is a great film, but it is really its own thing.