Harvey Keitel’s pimp role in Taxi Driver was originally written as Black. The studio changed it to white, fearing backlash, despite there being no white pimps on NYC streets in the ‘70s. This left the actor with little real-world source material to pull for inspiration.
In Taxi Driver, Harvey Keitel became so panicked that he would ask prostitutes how to play a pimp.
“I was looking to meet a pimp because I didn’t know what to do about being a pimp.”
“I would hang out on 10th Avenue, Ninth Avenue. I walked over to one of the girls and I said, ‘I’m looking for someone to help me to understand what it’s like to be a pimp’
“And she looks at me and goes, ‘No one’s going to talk to you.’
“Then in New York, in the Hell’s Kitchen quarter, I had been walking past pimps and girls of the night, and so I asked this guy to help me.”
“He said he was an ex-pimp, but I always thought he was lying.”
“We spent two weeks working in the basement of Actors Studio.”
“He taught me how to dance with the girl. First I played the girl and he was the guy, and then we switched roles.”
“He taught me how to be a pimp.”
“At one point he says, ‘Oh, and you love the girl.’
I said: ‘Yeah, but you don’t really love her.’
He said: ‘No, you love her.’