Jodie Foster downplays racy Taxi Driver scenes

Jodie Foster has downplayed her racy scenes from the Taxi Driver scenes

The Oscar winner explained that through modern eyes her "suggestive" scenes were actually quite tame.

Jodie, 63, opened up to Conan O'Brien on his Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast about her work on the 1976 film, in which she played a 12-year-old girl being sex trafficked by her older boyfriend, played by Robert De Niro, now 82.

"They weren't really very suggestive," Jodie told Conan, 62.

She explained that at the time, "the Board of Education started having issues with the idea of young kids doing more adult roles".

"They were concerned that somehow, you know, playing these characters that we would be confused about ourselves and who we were," she said.

"So, when I was about to do Taxi Driver, the Board of Education came down and said, 'Okay, we're not going to sign the work permit for this'."

Jodie's sister Connie, who was 18 at the time, was recruited to act as a stand-in for her during the contentious scenes.

"Part of the deal that we made with them was if there are any sexually suggestive scenes, we'll get somebody else to do it," Jodie explained. "And my mom was like, 'Look, her sister can come to New York for the summer. She's over 18 and she's about the same size.' And so that's what happened."

However, after reviewing the scenes in question from a contemporary perspective, Jodie argued the movie's controversial scenes were actually less risqué than people remembered.

"They weren't very suggestive," she said. "I think it was her taking down her shirt to below her shoulders, right? So that's nothing."