Taxi (1998 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Taxi is a 1998 French film starring Samy Naceri, written by Luc Besson, and directed by Gérard Pirès. It has 3 sequels: Taxi 2 in 2000, Taxi 3 in 2003 and Taxi 4 in 2007.
The film takes place in Marseille, France, and involves an aspiring racecar driver named Daniel (Naceri), who initially works as a pizza delivery boy, but changes jobs to become a taxi driver. With a supercharged engine he eludes the police while quickly transporting his fares to their destinations. Finally caught by the police for a huge speed infraction, he is forced to help Emilien (Frédéric Diefenthal), a down-on-his-luck police inspector, on the trail of German bank robbers. Trying to juggle a budding relationship with his beautiful girlfriend Lilly (Marion Cotillard) and a need for high-speed chases, Daniel helps Emilien so that he does not lose his license and quite possibly his job.
An American remake loosely based on the French version was released in 2004 starring Jimmy Fallon, Queen Latifah and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen. The 2004 Bollywood film Dhoom also draws heavily on the plot of Taxi.
Luc Besson wrote the script in 30 days.
In terms of box office admissions, the "Taxi" series is one of the most successful French franchises ever, grossing a reported total of $200 million worldwide and 23 million admissions in France .
