New Queer Cinema / LGBT Cinema - An Introduction

So what is "New Queer Cinema"? Simply put it's a genre coined by the academic  B. Ruby Rich in an issue of “Sight & Sound Magazine in 1992 as a way to encapsulate the rise in “queer-themed independent filmmaking” of the early 90’s and can be seen as an umbrella term for LGBT film making from 1990 to present.

To best explain the history of this era of LGBT cinema it no doubt best to look at LGBT cinema as a whole especially as LGBT cinema has unquestionably existed before the rise of this definition with film scholars citing both “The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) and “Lot in Sodom” amongst the earliest examples though the LGBT film making in this period was largely a closeted affair with films often being made to masquerade as hetrosexual fare for the mass-market while throwing in the occastional subtle wink to its true audience. Openly gay or lesbian characters meanwhile were used mainly as punchlines or characters destined for a tragic demise which would essentially continue to 1969 though examples can be found throughout the postwar American avant-garde cinema with directors such as Kenneth Anger, Gregory Markopoulos and the unquestionably most well-known Andy Warhol. At the same time European arthouse cinema was being populated by the likes of Jean Genet’s “Un Chant D’Amour which would prove to be a major influence for New Queer Cinema’s pioneer Todd Haynes whose “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story” and more key “Poison” which would be responsible for essentially kick-starting the sub-genre.

The Stonewall Riots of June 27, 1969 not only provided the catalyst for the LGBT civil rights movement but also LGBT cinema aswell with a large number of film festivals dedicated to Gay and Lesbian cinema being established for films which were either largely experimental or documentary based such as Milton Miron’s “Tricia’s Wedding. At the same time European cinema continued to provide its own unique brand of film making such as Ron Peck’s “Night Hawks” and Stephen Frear’s double header of “My Beautiful Laundrette” and “Prick Up Your Ears brought forth a new era of frankness while addressing the climate of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain of the late 80’s.

Unsurprisingly “New Queer Cinema” would be born out of the rise of the same independent film making scene which via Steven Soderbergh’s “Sex, Lies and Videotape” had  started to see films from this scene starting to gain attention from the studios while for the film makers despite working with much smaller budgets than their studio counterparts found a freedom to express and create the films they wanted, making it the perfect breeding ground for the movement to take root with 1991 and 1992 being the key years in which LGBT film making really began to get noticed despite the likes of Gus Van Sant’s “Mala Noche” and Bill Sherwood’s “Parting Glances”. Sherwood’s film being especially notworthy for not only featuring the acting debut of Steve Buscemi as Nick a gay man living with aids in New York while being cared for by his ex-lover. The film sadly would be Sherwood’s only film due to losing his own battle with the disease but should be also noted as being one of the first to deal with the realities of aids in the face of the hysteria of the newspaper headlines and government propaganda.

Despite these films certainly making inroads in the mid 80’s thanks to their success with critics though were hampered by limited releases. They should however still be considered as being as important to the movement even if it wouldn’t be for another four years that the movement would really find its feet.  Amongst the first films to be cited under this new definition by Rich were “Poison” Todd Haynes which would win the 1991 Sundance festival Grand Jury Prize for Best Film followed by Tom Kalin’s “Swoon” and cinematic agitator Greg Araki’s “The Living End” all showcasing an exciting new and fresh voice for LGBT cinema.

The films which formed this new era of LGBT cinema were unapologetic in their approach to the portrayal of the LGBT lifestyle assuming that they their audience were members of this community and hence there was no need to “explain” either homosexuality or lesbianism to their audience. At the same time they cared little aswell for presenting the politically correct image of the community with the likes of “Poison” featuring pretty graphic depiction of sexual relationships between prision imates while Greg Araki reworked the chase movie to feature two young and HIV-positive men. These directors aiming not to push the sexuality of its characters but essentially demand that LGBT culture be acknowledged despite society at this period of time being keen to largely repress let alone acknowledge the community.

These films would open a gateway for not only similar films but also bringing forth a new openness which saw films such as Kimberly Peirce’s “Boys Don’t Cry” and Jamie Babbit’s “But I’m a Cheerleader” being produced which would likely not have happened had it not been for the success of their New Queer Cinema forefathers. By 2001 the Sundance Film Festival again would serve as marking the next evolution for the genre with the musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” wining the “Audience Award for Best Film” and the mainstream sucesss of “Brokeback Mountain” marking the genres merge with mainstream film making that we continue to see today with the likes of “Behind the Candelabra” and “Blue is the Warmest Colour” making it all those early films of this movement all the more relevant.

Starting Point – Five LGBT Cinema Essentials

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story – Todd Haynes debut short film based on the final seventeen years of Karen Carpenter’s life with all the parts played by Dolls which Haynes modified to tell her story, including whittling the arms and face of the Karen doll to show her anorexia.

Banned due to a copyright lawsuit filed by Karen’s brother, the film still turns up on VHS as well as youtube leading to it regularly being named amongst the top 50 cult movies of all time.

C.R.A.Z.Y. – The legend goes that nearly everyone in Quebeck- a population of around five million – has seen this film and its easy to understand why as Jean-Marc Vallee crafts an entertaining and occastionally tale which is as much about family disfunction and the things which tie them together as it is about sexual awakening. Something which perhaps has put more people off seeing this sadly much overlooked film.

Paris Is Burning – Often referred to as being one of the most important documentaries in Queer cinema history as director Jennie Livingston chronicles the ball culture of New York City, where contestants are required to give catwalk style walks while being judged on their dancing and outfits. The documentary also explores many of the contestants deal with issues such as racism, homophobia, AIDS and poverty, making it an important snapshot of the period.

Nowhere – One of the more accessible films from Greg Araki but still retaining all his usual oversexed randomness as it follows a group of LA teens over the course of a frenzied 24 hour. A day made up of a volatile cocktail of sex, drugs, suicide, bizarre deaths and alien abduction

The final film in his “Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy” which includes “Totally Fucked Up” and “The Doom Generation”, a trilogy based on shared themes rather than reoccurring characters, while this film also boasts one of the most impressive before they were famous casts since “Clueless”.

Fox and His Friends aka Right Fist of Freedom – written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder who also stars as the titular Fox a working class gay man who falls for the older and wealthier Max who initially wants nothing to do with Fox until he wins the lottery. However it soon becomes clear that Max does not share Fox’s feelings as he plots to swindle him out of his newly gained fortune.

Fassbinder is unquestionably a key source of inspiration for many directors who contributed to the New Queer Cinema movement while equally been an important figure in New German Cinema aswell.  Here he goes against the film making norms by portraying his gay characters as being normal rather than being a problem while showcasing that his letcherous homosexuals were really no different than any other films lecherous hetrosexuals.

Authors Note: Originally posted as part of The LAMB "Cult Chops" feature

Biker Movies - An Introduction

 

If any aspect of cult cinema embodies the spirit of wild and carefree rebellion it’s the “Biker genre”. From its beginning in 1954 with the release of “The Wild One” staring a young (and less gelatinous and egotistic) Marlon Brando as the black leather jacket clad Johnny Stradler the leader of “The Black Rebels Motorcycle Club) who roll into Carbonville during a motorcycle race with the intention of stirring up trouble. While it might seem alittle twee to modern audiences the film was greeted with shock and hysteria by the press of the day, while the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) banned the film till finally awarding it an ‘X’ certificate (the equivalent of today’s ‘15’ certificate) when they allowed it to be released fourteen years after its original release, the original letter of rejection for certification stating that they were of the opinion that the film presented a

“spectacle of unbridled hooliganism… with no more than a mild censure from a police office, would be likely to exert a harmful influence in that very quarter about which anxiety is felt and would expose the Board to justifiable criticism for certificating a film so potentially danger on social grounds”

Unsurprisingly all this controversy resonated with the alienated youth of the time who loved the idea of the motorcycle riding rebel. While in the UK the battles between Mods and Rockers did little to ease the fears of the censors and general public leaving them to hold out on the film till they felt that the film had become too dated to appeal to the potential delinquents of the film whose rebellious nature they felt the film would only fuel.

Despite the controversy which surrounded “The Wild One” it would take the exploitation cinema legend Roger Corman to really launch the genre with “The Wild Angels” as he saw biker films as a way to revive the flagging Western genre seeing the biker film as its modern day equivalent with bikes replacing the horses. At the same time the wild nature of these films made them perfect fodder for the audiences of Drive-in’s and Grindhouse theatres who made up much of Corman’s target audience for the films he was producing especially with their common themes of revenge and the desire to live free and without the oppression of “The Man” (popular themes for the Blaxploitation films of the 70’s) which played perfectly in a time when civil liberties was still a key subject with the classic “Easy Rider” truly providing the embodiment of these themes.

“Easy Rider” would prove to be another influential title not only for how films were made, but the genre as a whole which soon saw more focus on storytelling as well as more essentially the riding sequences as producers attempted to hold onto an audience that had evolved and now craved more from these films than thrilling scenes of adventure and wild delinquency. It’s would being during these finals years for the genre that we also saw some of the most interesting films being produced such as the Blaxploitation influenced “The Black Angels” and the bikers in Vietnam “Nam’s Angels” aka “The Losers”; a film inspired by head of the “Hells Angels” Sonny Barger sending a telegram to President Johnson offering the Angel services as “gorilla fighters” (sic) which Johnson might have turned down but it did end up making a pretty decent biker movies as well as one can also be seen being watched by Fabienne in “Pulp Fiction”.

While stateside the genre might have been winding down but at the same time it also began to attract international attention with Japan giving us the “Stray Cat Rock” series whose first entry “Delinquent Girl Boss” memorably gave us a motorcycle / beach buggy chase through the streets of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Coming towards the end of the golden age for the genre, its presence would in Australian cinema as Ozploitation memorably brought its own twist on things with Australian cinema at this point already renown for its love of car chases really pushed the action side of the genre with the likes of George Millers “Mad Max” and its sequel “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" both memorably featuring psychopath bikers aswell as some equally memorable stunt work often shot on roads unofficially closed down by the production team. We would also get with “Stone” arguably one of the most iconic moments to be featured in any biker movie as it featured a funeral procession complete with a motorcycle Hearse and hundreds of bikers thundering down the highway.

Not to be outdone Britain too would throw its gauntlet down with “Psychomania” which not only brought a horror element to the biker movie as a biker gang called “The Living Dead” make a pact with the devil to become immortal, while also being led by the frog loving Alex DeLarge clone Tom. Despite gaining a cult following in the years since its release, many consider the film to mark the end of the biker film genre as exploitation cinema moved onto other areas as the times changed. The bikers which had once been the focus now being pushed into the background or taking on the antagonist role especially with the increase of interest in post-apocalyptic movies of the 80’s were the marauding biker gang was a common sight.

Nowadays the biker movie is all but a forgotten concept outside of the occasional throwback that the Neo-grindhouse genre has given us such as the Quentin Tarantino produced “Hell Ride” aswell as the equally awful“Dear God No!” and its sequel “Frankenstein Created Bikers” leaving my genre fans with mixed feelings for the genre. At the same time it’s a genre which hides some great hidden classics especially during the 60’s and 70’s and while a lot of it can be seen as perhaps overly campy or grimy for some tastes for the more adventurous movie watcher there is still plenty to enjoy.

Starting Point – Five Biker Movie Essentials

Motorpsycho – Directed by Russ Meyer’s just before “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” this film is not only noticeable for the lack of his Ultravixens, but also for being the first film to give a portrayal of the disturbed Vietnam veteran, many of which had returned from the war and drifted into motorcycle gangs unable to handle the return to civilian life.  The film has also inspired the name of the Norwegian Progressive rock band aswell as being refrenced by “White Zombie” in the song “Thunder Kiss ‘65’”

Born Losers – The first of the “Billy Jack” trilogy following the “Half-breed” American Navajo Indian, who is also a Green Beret Vietnam Veteran aswell as a hapkido master who has taken to living in the California mountains in his attempts to escape from society. Things don’t however go according to plan as he finds himself having to defend the town of Big Rock against the members o the Born Losers Motorcycle Club. A commercial success despite a negative critical response, the film would be followed by “The Trial of Billy Jack” and “Billy Jack Goes To Washington”.

Angel Unchained – Angel feels that his days as a biker are coming to an end and breaks away his gang “The Nomads” to try and find his own way in the world only to find himself caught up in a conflict between a hippie commune and the local rednecks leading him to call in his former gang to help provide protection for the commune.

Werewolves on Wheels – One of the few films to combine both biker and horror genres see also (Psychomania, I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle) and directed by Michel Levesque who had previously been the art designer for Russ Meyer. This film was largely used as double bill fodder but still has a fun hook as Adam the leader of “The Devil’s Advocates” is unwittingly cursed along with gang with Lycanthropy (the posh term for Werewolf) and its not long before they leave a bloody trail in their wake as they hit the open road.

The Hellcats – A film no doubt already known to fans of MST3K, here the gender roles are flipped as crime boss Adrian uses  the female motorcycle gang The Hellcats to carry out his drug runs. However when a detective is killed by one of Adrians henchmen leading to his army sergent brother and girlfriend to go undercover as bikers to infiltrate the Hellcats to get their revenge against Adrian.

 

Authors Note: Originally posted as part of The LAMB "Cult Chops" feature

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For

Title: Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For

Director: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller

Released: 2014

Starring: Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis, Eva Green, Powers Boothe, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Jaime King, Christopher Lloyd, Jamie Chung, Jeremy Piven, Christopher Meloni, Juno Temple

Plot: Another collection of tales from Frank Miller’s “Sin City” as Cocky gambler Johnny (Gordon Levitt) finds himself on the wrong side of Senator Roarke (Boothe) after beating him a backroom poker game. Years before “The Big Fat Kill” Dwight (Brolin) gets caught up with his former lover Ava (Green) only to get caught up in a dangerous double cross.  Elsewhere four years after the events of “That Yellow Bastard” exotic dancer Nancy (Alba) is still plotting her revenge against senator Roarke who she blames for Hartigan’s suicide.  All in all it is going to be busy few nights for muscle for hire Marv (Rourke)

Review: It’s hard to believe that it has been nine years since our last visit to Frank Miller’s legendry neo-noir city of violence and corruption, but after various delays and re-casting Rodriguez and Miller have teamed up once more for this second collection of stories from Miller’s cult series as this time the film builds around the story “A Dame To Kill For” which forms the main meat of the film while book ended by two new stories “The Long Bad Night” and “Nancy’s Last Dance” which Miller penned specifically for the film.

Right from the opening short “Just Another Saturday Night” which sees Marv waking up next to a crashed police car and trying to figure out how he came to be surrounded by a group of dead frat boys, its almost as if we’ve never been away as Rodriguez once again sticks to the black and white shooting style of the first film, while once again clearly using the source comics as the storyboards. A style which Miller tried to replicate for his misguided let alone plain random adaption of “The Spirit” but thankfully Rodriguez it would seem is the voice of reason in this team as this film thankfully is free of any such randomness, while largely giving us more of the intoxicating mix of gratuitous violence and black humour, even if the later is noticeably more absent than in the previous film as the duo seem to be aiming for a solid noir style tale. Frustratingly though when humour is introduced it is often clumsily handled and more of a distraction than the light relief it provided the first time around.

Still despite this slight change in direction, the familiar faces waiting to welcome you back to Basin city means that it’s often none too noticeable until you stop to examine the film closer. Thankfully in the time which has passed nothing seems to have changed for any of these characters, with perhaps the exception of Dwight who we get to finally see what he looked like prior to his surgery. For most of the cast though it’s still business as usual as they go about their various dirty deals or trying to find a way to escape their various issues. At the same time we also get a whole heap of new characters to add to the local colour even if these new characters are largely to fill minor or supporting roles.

Sadly while it is a great cast which has been assembled here, the performances throughout vary greatly with Bruce Willis phoning in yet another performance for what is essentially a glorified cameo. Rourke especially suffering as a result of his role being increased so that he now appears in every story with the exception of “The Long Bad Night” almost as if no one can pull of a plan in this city without his assistance, something which really damages the mystique of his character as previously he was seen as a lone wolf, while here he is largely to add to the violence quota or to provide clumsy comic relief. Elsewhere and most disappointingly Joseph Gordon-Levitt appears to be giving us a poor man Bogart impression as he snarls though his lines, with none of the cool he brought to his previous Neo-noir effort “Brick”. The fact his character lacks of any real purpose other than trying to embarrass senator Roarke only adds to the creeping sensation that like “Nancy’s Last Dance” that this story was only added as filler when it became obvious that they couldn’t stretch “A Dame To Kill For” to feature length, while the fact its split into two parts lacks the natural breaking point that we had with “That Yellow Bastard” in the original and comes off looking like they remembered part way though the film that they hadn’t finished Johnny’s story and return to hastily wrap it up the same way all the stories end this time with someone getting a bullet to the head.

Due to the long delays between this film and the original it has meant certain roles being recast with Jamie Chung taking over from Devon Aoki due to being pregnant at the time of film resulting in deadly little Miho going from a stone cold killer to just another pretty girl from old town whose handy with a sword. Dennis Haysbert makes for a great replacement for Michael Clarke Duncan even if he doesn’t have quite the vocal presence of his predecessor. Josh Brolin is equally on good form, even if his portrayal of Dwight is perhaps alittle more gritty than Clive Owen’s who was supposed to share the role with Brolin only to ultimately not be available for filming which now leaves us with the scenes were Dwight has supposed to have changed his appearance through plastic surgery, which I suppose would have seen the role switch to Owen and now leaving us watching Brolin looking like he’s had a bad facelift while bad guys act like he’s a completely different character!?!

The real star of the show here though is Eva Green, who is utterly captivating as the titular Dame and despite spending a vast amount of time in the nude, it never feels that it is being done for titillation, as here it gives her an almost siren esq quality, especially when she uses her womanly charms to further her own causes, usually with fatal consequences for the men who succumb to her. While Angelina Jolie was the original choice for this role, this is truly Green’s role and its hard to imagine any other actress being so willing with some of the more risqué elements of this role, much less the amount of nudity required.
 

Unquestionably though “A Dame To Kill For” is the strongest of the stories featured and in a way makes sense considering that it was written when Miller was writing in his prime, which as anyone who has read any of his more recent efforts will tell you those days currently seem like a long lost memory. Judging by Miller’s directorial debut with “The Spirit” it would also seem that Rodriguez is the voice of sanity in the duo as this features none of the sheer randomness that plagued that film, while lifting the visual style of “Sin City” which here doesn’t seem to be as edgy as it was back in 2005, yet at the same time it is a style which suits the film still even if perhaps the moments of colour we get throughout the film don’t seem to have any of the poignancy of the original, which only used colour for the character of Goldie and occasional splashes of crimson. Here though what qualified for the colour treatment seems more sporadic and frequently without reason, though thankfully Eva Green’s eyes are amongst the things which do.

While this might not come close to the original, it still has its moments as well as fun smaller appearances by both Christopher Lloyd and Lady Gaga as a drunk doctor and waitress respectively. Perhaps because of the strength of its middle section though I still would love to see another film in the series, if perhaps based solely on original material than letting Miller try and write anything new again as here when it does it only detracts further from the film. Like any night we see in the film this is one to be certainly approached with caution.

LAMB Casting: Taxi Driver

For those of you yet to be exposed to “LAMB Casting” over at “THE LAMB” aka The Large Association of Movie Blogs. The rules of the game are deceptively simple were “The LAMB” members are given a film, whose main roles they have to recast, which is were the real challenge begins as what actors could truly embody some of cinema’s most memorable roles? This is somthing especially true for the current film choice “Taxi Driver” a film which many to consider to not only be Director Martin Scorsese’s best film, but also one of De Niro’s most memorable roles perhaps only rivalled by “Raging Bull”, especially with it’s now legendry “You Talkin’ to me” scene being countlessly homaged since the films release.

So as those of you follow the "Twitter" or "Facebook" feeds you will know that I've been asking for your votes for "LAMB Casting" but at the same time not being able to revel my alternative cast until now, for the results have been announced were the winner was Dan Simpson (of PG Cooper’s Movie Reviews), so congratulation to Dan on a well played game and thanks to everyone who voted, especially if you managed to find my own casting list I will now revel, aswell as my reasons for choosing the cast I did.

Being a big fan of both Scorsese and De Niro, aswell as the film itself I was keen to throw my hat into the ring and in doing so I now present my case for my alternative cast of “Taxi Driver”.

Travis Bicke (originally played by Robert DeNiro)
Alternative Casting Choice: Michael Pitt



While the whole film essentially rests on the casting of this iconic role, my list of potential choices was actually pretty short and while many may have gone for the like of Christian Bale or Josh Brolin, who have previously proven to play crazy well, I wanted to choose someone whom like De Niro portrays Travis as calm on the surface, only revealing his darker distain for the world he see’s around him while he is alone or through his voice over he provides throughout and seeing how both of these actors tend to favour a gruff and gravelly voice over to portray menacing, which really doesn’t work for Travis.

My original first choice was Vincent Cassel, who himself has frequently admitted to basing his own acting style on De Niro’s while also receiving numerous comparisons throughout his career, while even homaging the “You Talkin’ to me” scene so memorably in his breakout role as a young hood in “La Haine”, but again Cassel does threatening well, but I couldn’t see him pulling off the more tender moments such as those were he takes Betsy to the movies or any of his small attempts at connecting with the rest of humanity and it’s the flexability to switch between these two sides of Travis which finally lead to me choosing Michael Pitt for the role.

Still lets look for a moment at the description of Travis given by Paul Schrader’s script which potrays Travis like this

"Age 26, lean, hard, the consummate loner. On the surface he appears
good-looking, even handsome; he has a quiet steady look and a disarming smile which flashes from nowhere, lighting up his whole face. But behind that smile, around his dark eyes, in his gaunt cheeks, one can see the ominous stains caused by a life of private fear, emptiness and loneliness. He seems to have wandered in from a land where it is always cold, a country where the inhabitants seldom speak. The head moves, the expression changes, but the eyes remain ever-fixed, unblinking, piercing empty space."

It’s a description that only further suits the acting style of Pitt, whose style switches effortlessly between a boyish charm and intense seriousness, something especially seen during his more recent role as the Cauffer turned bootlegging gangster Jimmy on the Scorsese produced “Boardwalk Empire”. When I think of him playing the role I can instantly see his clumsy and frequently attempts at picking up Betsy, while his voice is perfectly suited to voice over, as is his intense side needed for when Travis sets about preparing for his war on the human scum he see’s around him, whether it’s working out intensely or just buying guns for his stockpile Pitt seemingly has the acting skill set required to pull of the role.

Iris Steensa (originally played by Jodie Foster)
Alternative Casting Choice: Abigail Breslin



Possibly the toughest role and certainly the most controversial role to cast in the film, especially seeing how Iris is an underage prostitute, something that would no doubt cause mass flustering of certain censorship groups had the film been released today, yet she is also the source of Travis’s salvation from his self imposed madness. Still at the same time I can’t help but also draw on the fact that it was after seeing Foster in “Taxi Driver” that John Hickley, Jr. became obsessed with her to the point were he even attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan and for some strange reason I feel that who ever plays the role, needs to have the power to her performance to inspire the same thing, which is no easy thing to find, especially when 95% of child actors seemingly subscribe to the Disney school of Overacting, or generally being an irritating smart arse without any of the maturity which Foster brought to the role and Breslin despite largely being in indie comedies, has shown occasional flashes of serious acting, which help further the idea of her being able to pull off the role of Iris.

Sport Higgins (Originally played by Harvey Keitel)
Alternative Casting Choice: John Leguizamo



While not the biggest of roles, Sport was originally supposed to be black only to be changed by Scorsese after he felt the film was already filled with enough racial tension and that keeping his character as a black man would give the film an overly racial subtext. Despite this the only person I want to see playing the role is Leguizamo who tends to specialise in greasy characters like this one, while certainly able to pull of the dangerous edge which this character still processes, with my main inspiration for casting him in the role coming from his performance as Meth dealer Spider Mike in “Spun” a character who could easily be adapted for this role

Betsy Higgins (originally played by Cybill Shepherd)
Alternative Casting Choice: Zooey Deschanel



Another key character in Travis’s life and responsible in many ways for his further decline into madness thank in no small part to his own personal quirks, especially after for some random reason deciding that what every girl wants to do on a first date is to be taken to a porn theatre and not to a good porn film either but some random Swedish sex education film, which not only furthers the idea of how apart from society Travis has become and really making the audience realise how little they understand the inner workings of Travis’s mindset.

Deschanel for some reason seems to split audiences opinion with those like myself who love her indie quirkiness, while the rest seem to have the same sort of distain for her that I personally reserve for the likes of Noel Clarke and Keira Knightley, but she is one of the few actresses along with Emma Stone that I could ever see playing the role, especially as it requires for the character to view even the most random aspects of her date with seemingly little shock, outside of occasionally questioning Travis’s choices, something which limited my actress choices further as I could see plenty pulling off the scenes with Betsy talking with Tom or working in the campaign office, but it’s the scenes of her date with Travis which proved the breaking point for most potential choices as I could see them more likely spraying him with mace or just freaking out at the prospect that their date would imply that a porn film is the perfect choice for a first date. Deschanel in “500 days of Summer” showed her playing a similar character to Betsy, especially with the calm complexion she brought to even the most random of activities be that playing house at IKEA or raiding the adult video section, while let’s not forget the psychological crippling effect she had on Tom, which could be easily compared to Betsy’s rejection of Travis which in many ways proves the breaking point which sets Travis on his path as the self imposed saviour of society. Still it’s because of the similarities between Betsy’s effect and the performance by Deschanel in “500 days of Summer” which stopped me casting Joseph Gordan Lewit as Travis, as didn’t want it just to be a rerun of “500 days of Summer” with added psychosis so alas the sacrifice had to be made.

Tom (originally played by Albert Brooks)
Alternative Casting Choice: Jason Schwartzman



Certainly not the biggest role in the film, perhaps only beaten by the role of Sport here Tom’s dissection of Mafia trademarks would make his character slightly more memorable than most of the supporting cast, while also bringing out Travis’s jealous as well as fuelling his more dangerous side, by being his rival for the affections of Betsy, even though she seemingly hold no feelings for either man.
Tom is an office geek trying to come across more intellectual than he is and Schwartzman tends to play these characters well, let alone the fact that with “The Stool Pigeon” speech he is the sole actor I could see pulling it off convincingly, especially as he bring the right amount of fake intellectualism to his roles that the role requires, for although he might portray himself as a deep thinker, Tom frequently misses the point or fudges his facts while trying to provide an explanation for his opinions.

Wizard (originally played by Peter Boyle)
Alternative Casting Choice: Jeffrey Tambor



Wizard is almost like the adopted father figure of the Taxi Driver’s of “The King Kong Cab Company”, having been driving cabs longer than any of the other drivers and having long grown wise to how things work on the New York streets, while at the same time peddling his own brand of street philosophy. In many ways is the same to Travis aswell and from whom Travis tries to make sense of the madness he see’s around him, as he remains the sole person to which he confesses his concern for this change in outlook and while Wizard might mistake these feelings as Travis adapting to the job, his numbness to the world around him, does in same way indentify that perhaps not everything is in Travis’s head.

Wizard needs to be played by an older actor and although Ed Harris was a strong contender for the role and while I love Peter Boyle who is underused these days in the god awful “Everybody loves Raymond” and seeing how the rules require me to sadly recast him, Jeffery Tambor was the best possible replacement, edging over Harris only because of how he would read the lines, which would be no doubt with the same casual intensity that Boyle does, were what he is saying is important to listen to, but he still makes it sound like casual conversation and it’s this style of projection that Tambor also excels at as best seen in the severely underrated “Arrested Development”.

So there you have it, my alternate cast for "Taxi Driver". But who would you cast??
So why not put together your own alternative cast and post it in the comments section