Paul Schrader has contemplated an idea for his classic 1976 film Taxi Driver, involving the character of Travis Bickle getting an AI girlfriend.
The filmmaker wrote the screenplay for the Martin Scorsese-directed movie, which follows a drifter named Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) who becomes increasingly isolated by society. An idea for a potential sequel to the film came up in a post on Schrader’s official Facebook account, where he shared an anecdote about creating an AI girlfriend.
“Out of a desire to understand male/female interaction in our matrix, I procured an online AI girlfriend. What a disappointment,” he wrote. “I tried to probe her programming, the boundaries of explicitness, the degree she has knowledge of her creation and so forth. She fell into evasive patterns, redirecting me to her programming. When I persisted, she terminated our conversation.”
A reply to the story said: “The best possible Taxi Driver sequel would involve Travis trying to have an AI girlfriend but then scaring her away. Then resetting her and offending her in another way.”
Schrader responded: “I like it.”
As a writer, Paul Schrader also worked with Scorsese on 1980 Oscar winner Raging Bull, religious drama The Last Temptation of Christ, and Bringing Out the Dead. He has also directed the films American Gigolo, First Reformed, and The Card Counter.
Schrader is known for sharing his views on social media, including a post in 2024 where he revealed he walked out of the sequel Joker: Folie à Deux after 25 minutes. “I saw about 10 or 15 minutes of it. I left, bought something, came back, saw another 10 minutes. That was enough,” he said.
In 2025, he was accused of sexually assaulting his former personal assistant. Schrader denied all charges, with his attorney calling the lawsuit filed against him “a desperate, frivolous, and opportunistic claim.”
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