martin scorsese // AVC: You’ve said that he’s a Travis Bickle-like...

AVC: You’ve said that he’s a Travis Bickle-like character. Do you see other parallels to Taxi Driver?

RG: Well, I think not really, because so much of what that character was going through was based on coming back from Vietnam, and it was a much more political film about the realities of what people were experiencing at the time. This film is much more of a fairy tale and a myth.

AVC: Do you feel they share the same fantasy of needing to rescue the girl?

RG: Yeah, I think they share that fantasy of needing to be a hero. I think you have to find a way to identify with them in order to play them. I guess there’s something about you don’t know why you’re attracted to a character, but you’re attracted to them enough to want to— it’s like when a song comes on, and you feel like dancing. You don’t know why; you just want to dance. It’s hard to analyze that feeling, and if you do, you get far away from it.