Victor Magnotta was a personal friend of Martin Scorsese. They went to NYU together. He also wanted to be a priest but he ended up joining the Special Forces when the Vietnam broke out. After Vietnam he became a stunt man. He had bits in almost all Scorsese's films. The Taxi Driver (1976)'s "mohawk" idea came up during a dinner conversation about Magnotta's Vietnam experience with Scorsese and De Niro -- De Niro was asking questions about the Special Forces and amongst many of his war horror stories, Magnotta explained the meaning of the "mohawk" and the shaved head. De Niro had the idea to use it in the film. Victor Magnotta died performing a stunt that he did for the movie The Squeeze (1987).