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 creative differences. He was replaced by Ray Winstone. He appeared as Senator John McLaughlin in the action film "Machete" (2010), and starred in the thriller "Stone" (2010). He again reprised his role as Jack Byrnes in "Little Fockers" (2010). He appeared in the action film "Killer Elite" (2011), "Limitless" (2011) and the romantic comedy film "New Year's Eve" (2011). De Niro starred in the film "Manuale d'amore 3" (2011). In January 2011, CBS picked up De Niro's crime pilot, "NYC 22" (originally titled "Rookies"), but it was cancelled after airing only four episodes. In 2011, De Niro was the