Rumors are circulating in Hollywood about a possible sequel to Martin Scorsese's 1976 masterpiece "Taxi Driver," with Robert De Niro reprising his role as troubled Vietnam vet Travis Bickle.

Bickle, you'll recall, was an insomniac whose rather large gun collection and predilection for killing "lowlifes" was considered shocking at the time. Today, his killing spree would elicit yawns from desensitized kids and adults who can accumulate higher body counts at the first level of "Grand Theft Auto: Beverly Hills."

"I was talking with Martin Scorsese about doing what I guess you'd call a sequel to 'Taxi Driver' where [Travis Bickle] is older," De Niro allegedly told an Internet reporter. Imagining De Niro pitching "Taxi Driver 2" to Scorsese over Sangria and tapas in Chelsea should be impossible, but, alas, after the success of "Meet the Fockers," anything's possible.

DeNiro: Let's face it, Marty, you got lucky with "The Aviator." If you do another movie with pretty boy DiCaprio, people are gonna' talk. He's not exactly "Mean Streets" material. He looks like my niece, Samantha.

Scorsese: Bobby, that comment is beneath you. Leo is as hard working as you used to be. He's always looking for new vistas to conquer. Meanwhile, you're picking over the scraps of one of our earliest collaborations. A sequel to "Taxi Driver?" Pass me the smelling salt, you ridiculous [expletive].

DeNiro [shaking his head]: We can do this, Marty. Twenty-nine years out, we're more sophisticated filmmakers. Imagine the resonance we could bring to Travis Bickle and his world today. After Sept. 11 and Abu Ghraib, the seeds of psychosis are there.

Scorsese: Bobby, when we did "Taxi Driver," New York was a [expletive] hole. Now you can stoop down and eat off the [expletive] streets of Broadway. Where's the story? Travis Bickle doesn't have anything to complain about in a Disneyfied New York.

DeNiro: See, that's the story, Marty. The violence and filth is still there, only its been sanitized and repackaged for subliminal consumption. Travis Bickle is now a 55-year-old cabbie driving around the Big Apple in a fever and catching snatches of gangsta rap from passing Humvees and imagining half naked women winking at him from 50-foot billboards above Times Square. Violence is in the elevator Muzak, but only Travis' ears are sensitive enough to hear it.

Scorsese: So, what's the trigger for his psychotic behavior this time, Bobby? Jodie Foster didn't do the sequel to "Silence of the Lambs," so she ain't going to do "Taxi Driver 2," even for you.

DeNiro: Look, we'll pay Paul Schrader $2.5 million to write another script. Leave it to him to come up with a plausible rationale for Travis' brand of redemptive violence. Meanwhile, I'm sure we can lure everyone but Jodie back for the sequel -- Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks, even Harvey.

Scorsese: Harvey Keitel? Bobby, don't you remember you shot Harvey's pimp character dead in the last reel of "Taxi Driver?"

DeNiro: Yeah, but we could get creative and bring him back as his twin, maybe another pimp out for revenge for what Travis did to his brother. It'll be an honor thing.

Scorsese: Look, Bobby, if the pimp hasn't gotten revenge on Travis for killing his twin after 29 years, then it means he simply doesn't care. I'm not going to direct a movie with the clone of [expletive] Harvey Keitel in it, for crying out loud. Can't we have some [expletive] dignity?

DeNiro: Does this means you're considering it?

Scorsese: Anything's possible, but you have to show me the money, Bobby.

DeNiro: You talkin' to me [laughs]? You talkin' to me? [points to an imaginary hearing aid]. Well, I'm the only one sittin' here and I can't hear a damn thing [chuckles]. It'll be like riding a bike, Marty.

Scorsese: Hmmm. Travis Bickle, bitter and angry at 55 and packin' heat again. I dunno, Bobby. We'll hate ourselves in the [expletive] morning if we go through with this.

DeNiro: Have a little faith, Marty. This is [expletive] art.