The King of Comedy (film) of Comedy" even more dangerous than "Taxi Driver" because of its lack of blood and the fact that viewers could easily identify with De Niro. In a documentary featured in the first DVD release of the film, Scorsese himself acknowledged the connection between the two characters: ""Taxi Driver". Travis. Rupert. The isolated person. Is Rupert more violent than Travis? Maybe." The King of Comedy (film) The King of Comedy is a 1982 American satirical black comedy film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, and Sandra Bernhard. Written by Paul D. Zimmerman, the film focuses on
The Pick-up Artist (film) Beatty who liked the script but was reluctant to play a character driven by his erotic compulsions. Toback then considered Robert De Niro but ultimately decided the role should be played by a younger actor. The film was at Paramount. Then in 1984 Beatty bought it and set up the production at Fox. Toback says the film was "not even remotely" based on Beatty. "The guy in the script chases after people. Warren always has people chasing after him." It was Toback's fourth film as director. He says his first three "were all dark movies that ended unhappily. Now I'm