15 Iconic Director-Writer Partnerships | Entertainment News

Travis Bickle, the archetypal psychotic loner played by Robert De Niro in “Taxi Driver,” was imagined by screenwriter Paul Schrader and brought to life with Martin Scorsese’s gritty and gripping direction. The two have collaborated on four films, including “Raging Bull” – again, with DeNiro in the lead role, this time as real-life boxer Jake LaMotta. “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull” are stylish visual dramas known as masterpieces from Scorsese’s early career.

The two switched gears with the controversial 1988 “The Last Temptation of Christ” starring Willem Dafoe as a very human Jesus struggling with divinity. His revisionist approach to biblical accounts has drawn protests and bans from Christian groups. The couple’s last collaboration was 1999’s ‘Bringing Out the Dead’, starring Nicolas Cage as a Manhattan paramedic, the film’s philosophical narrator, ruminating on saving lives while answering calls for victims of gunshots and drug overdoses.

“Bringing Out the Dead,” while far less iconic than Scorsese and Schrader’s other films, received decent reviews. Among its stars are John Goodman, Patricia Arquette, Queen Latifah, Ving Rhames and Marc Anthony, as a suicidal drug addict.

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