UPDATE 2/16: Screen reports that the remake rumors are just that.

The biggest news so far to come out of the Berlin Film Festival is on a film that was made 36 years ago.

Spreading all over the blogs, Lars von Trier and Martin Scorsese are supposedly mulling over the idea of remaking Taxi Driver with Robert De Niro to reprise the role of Travis Bickle. In Variety, Gunnar Rehlin reports:

The idea behind the project is similar to the film The Five Obstructions that von Trier and Danish helmer Jorgen Leth made in 2003. In that film, von Trier challenged his colleague Leth to do a remake of his own 1967 film The Perfect Human. Von Trier gave Leth the taks of remaking five times, each with a different obstacle, such as making the film animated.

Now don’t head over to the ledge just yet. So far no one is talking but that should change as both Scorsese and von Trier are in Berlin and there’s supposed to be a statement coming out shortly.

Scorsese has always toyed with the idea of making a sequel to Taxi Driver, but I don’t know how a remake could be (dare I say) watchable. To be continued…