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 into occasional comedic roles in the mid-1980s and has had much success there as well, with such films as "Brazil" (1985), "Midnight Run" (1988), "Analyze This" (1999), "Meet the Parents" (2000), and "Meet the Fockers" (2004). Other films include "True Confessions" (1981), "Falling in Love" (1984), "Once Upon a Time in America" (1984), "The Mission" (1986), "Angel Heart" (1987), "The Untouchables" (1987), "Goodfellas" (1990), "Awakenings" (1990), "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" (1994), "Heat" (1995), "The Fan" (1996), "Sleepers" (1996), "Wag the Dog" (1997), "Jackie Brown" (1997), "Ronin" (1998) and "Flawless" (1999). In 1987, De Niro was the President of the Jury at