The King of Comedy (film) character fails to differentiate between his fantasies and reality in much the same way. Scorsese sought to achieve the same with the film so that, in his words, the "fantasy is more real than reality". Rupert Pupkin has been compared to Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver": both characters have serious issues with reality testing, that is drawing the line between outer objective and inner subjective reality. In her review, entertainment columnist Marilyn Beck approved Johnny Carson's refusal to participate in "The King of Comedy", supposedly because he feared the film could inspire psychopaths like John Hinckley. Beck considered "The King
Robert De Niro to fully realize the character being portrayed. He is praised for his commitment to roles; he gained 60 lb (27 kg) and learned how to box for his role as Jake LaMotta in "Raging Bull", ground his teeth down for "Cape Fear", lived in Sicily for "The Godfather Part II", worked as a cab driver for a few weeks for "Taxi Driver", and learned to play the saxophone for "New York, New York". He again put on weight for his performance as Al Capone in "The Untouchables". De Niro's brand of acting includes employing whatever extreme tactic he feels is