Leonard Schrader
Encyclopedia
Leonard Schrader was an American
screenwriter
and director
, most notable for his ability to write Japanese language
films and for his many collaborations with his brother, Paul Schrader
. He earned an Academy Award Nomination for the screenplay he wrote for the film Kiss of the Spider Woman.
, Schrader was brought up in a strict Dutch Calvinist
family and did not see his first film until he was an adult. In 1968, he finished his MFA
at the University of Iowa
's Writer's Workshop where he studied with Nelson Algren
, Kurt Vonnegut
, Richard Yates
, Robert Coover
, José Donoso
and Jorge Luis Borges
.
, in his book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
, Schrader left the U.S. when he received a draft induction notice and didn't return until he was 28 years old - and thus ineligible for the draft.)
Between 1969-73 Schrader escaped even further, slipping by night into the subculture of the Yamaguchi-gumi
(the dominant Yakuza
gangster organization in the Kansai
area of Japan, which includes Osaka
, Kobe
and Kyoto
), while by day teaching American Literature at Doshisha University
and Kyoto University
.
During his time in Japan he met his future wife, Chieko Schrader. They married in 1977.
. This resulted in the film The Yakuza
(1974), starring Robert Mitchum
and directed by Sydney Pollack
. Leonard and Paul also co-wrote Blue Collar
(1978), a story of defiant auto-workers in Detroit, directed by Paul Schrader starring Richard Pryor
and Harvey Keitel
, and Old Boyfriends (1979), about a woman’s cross-country trek to visit old flames, directed by Joan Tewkesbury
and starring John Belushi
, Talia Shire
, Keith Carradine
, John Houseman
.
Schrader’s other screenplay credits include such popular Japanese-language films as Tora-san’s Dream of Spring (1979), The Man Who Stole the Sun (Japan’s Best Film of the Year in 1980), and Shonben Rider (1983). In 1982, with wife Chieko Schrader, he co-wrote The Killing of America, a documentary tracing the origins of U.S. violence. During this production, Leonard Schrader collaborated with New York experimental filmmaker, David Weisman
.
Schrader’s background in Latin American literature
and Weisman’s experience with Brazil led them to develop Kiss of the Spider Woman together. Schrader’s screenplay adaptation, based on the avant-garde novel by Argentinian
Manuel Puig
, earned him an Academy Award Nomination in 1986. (It also earned William Hurt
an Academy Award for Best Actor.)
Schrader met renowned Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima
while living in Japan. For a decade after the author’s ritual suicide in 1970, Schrader pursued the rights to Mishima’s life, and working with his wife Chieko and brother Paul, he co-wrote the Japanese-language bio-pic Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
executive-produced in 1984 by George Lucas
and Francis Ford Coppola
, and directed by Paul Schrader
.
Schrader made his directorial debut with Naked Tango
(1991) for which he also wrote the screenplay. Produced in Argentina, with the 1925 period 'look' overseen by Oscar-winning designer Milena Canonero
, the independent film starred Vincent D’Onofrio, Mathilda May
, Esai Morales
, and the late Fernando Rey
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, most notable for his ability to write Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
films and for his many collaborations with his brother, Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
. He earned an Academy Award Nomination for the screenplay he wrote for the film Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Early life and college
Born in Grand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
, Schrader was brought up in a strict Dutch Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
family and did not see his first film until he was an adult. In 1968, he finished his MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
's Writer's Workshop where he studied with Nelson Algren
Nelson Algren
Nelson Algren was an American writer.-Early life:Algren was born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Goldie and Gerson Abraham. At the age of three he moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois where they lived in a working-class, immigrant neighborhood on the South Side...
, Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
, Richard Yates
Richard Yates (novelist)
Richard Yates was an American novelist and short story writer, known for his exploration of mid-20th century life.-Life:...
, Robert Coover
Robert Coover
Robert Lowell Coover is an American author and professor in the Literary Arts program at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation and metafiction.-Life and works:...
, José Donoso
José Donoso
José Donoso Yáñez was a Chilean writer. He lived most of his life in Chile, although he spent many years in self-imposed exile in Mexico, the United States and mainly Spain. Although he had left his country in the sixties for personal reasons, after 1973 he claimed his exile was also a form of...
and Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
.
Japan
After graduating, Schrader escaped Grand Rapids, the Midwest and the draft by moving to Japan to teach. (According to Peter BiskindPeter Biskind
Peter Biskind is a journalist, former executive editor of Premiere magazine, and the author of numerous books depicting life in Hollywood, including Seeing Is Believing, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Down and Dirty Pictures, and Gods and Monsters...
, in his book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood is a book written by Peter Biskind and published by Simon and Schuster in 1998...
, Schrader left the U.S. when he received a draft induction notice and didn't return until he was 28 years old - and thus ineligible for the draft.)
Between 1969-73 Schrader escaped even further, slipping by night into the subculture of the Yamaguchi-gumi
Yamaguchi-gumi
is Japan's largest and most infamous yakuza organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe pre-WWII....
(the dominant Yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
gangster organization in the Kansai
Kansai
The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Mie, Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, and Shiga. Depending on who makes the distinction, Fukui, Tokushima and even Tottori Prefecture are also included...
area of Japan, which includes Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
and Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
), while by day teaching American Literature at Doshisha University
Doshisha University
, or is a prestigious private university in Kyoto, Japan. The university has approximately 27,000 students on three campuses, in faculties of theology, letters, law, commerce, economics, policy, and engineering...
and Kyoto University
Kyoto University
, or is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university, and formerly one of Japan's Imperial Universities.- History :...
.
During his time in Japan he met his future wife, Chieko Schrader. They married in 1977.
Film career
His experiences with the Yakuza in Japan led to a collaboration on a story with his brother, Paul SchraderPaul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
. This resulted in the film The Yakuza
The Yakuza
The Yakuza is a 1974 neo-noir gangster film directed by Sydney Pollack, written by Leonard Schrader, Paul Schrader, and Robert Towne.The Yakuza portrays the clash of traditional Japanese values during Japan's transition from the US occupation to economic success in the early 1970s...
(1974), starring Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
and directed by Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
. Leonard and Paul also co-wrote Blue Collar
Blue Collar (film)
Blue Collar is a 1978 film; the directorial debut of screenwriter Paul Schrader. This drama stars Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto.-Plot:...
(1978), a story of defiant auto-workers in Detroit, directed by Paul Schrader starring Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
and Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
, and Old Boyfriends (1979), about a woman’s cross-country trek to visit old flames, directed by Joan Tewkesbury
Joan Tewkesbury
Joan Tewkesbury is an American film and television director, screenwriter, producer and actress. She had a long association with Robert Altman, writing two of his most acclaimed films, Nashville and Thieves Like Us...
and starring John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
, Talia Shire
Talia Shire
Talia Shire is an American actress most known for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather films and Adrian Balboa in the Rocky series.-Personal life:...
, Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
, John Houseman
John Houseman
John Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
.
Schrader’s other screenplay credits include such popular Japanese-language films as Tora-san’s Dream of Spring (1979), The Man Who Stole the Sun (Japan’s Best Film of the Year in 1980), and Shonben Rider (1983). In 1982, with wife Chieko Schrader, he co-wrote The Killing of America, a documentary tracing the origins of U.S. violence. During this production, Leonard Schrader collaborated with New York experimental filmmaker, David Weisman
David Weisman
David Weisman is a film producer, author, and graphic artist who is most noted for his films Ciao! Manhattan and Kiss of the Spider Woman...
.
Schrader’s background in Latin American literature
Latin American literature
Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the second half of the 20th century, largely due to the...
and Weisman’s experience with Brazil led them to develop Kiss of the Spider Woman together. Schrader’s screenplay adaptation, based on the avant-garde novel by Argentinian
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
Manuel Puig
Manuel Puig
Manuel Puig was an Argentine author...
, earned him an Academy Award Nomination in 1986. (It also earned William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
an Academy Award for Best Actor.)
Schrader met renowned Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima
Yukio Mishima
was the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...
while living in Japan. For a decade after the author’s ritual suicide in 1970, Schrader pursued the rights to Mishima’s life, and working with his wife Chieko and brother Paul, he co-wrote the Japanese-language bio-pic Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is an American/Japanese film co-written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1985. It was co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas....
executive-produced in 1984 by George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
and Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, and directed by Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
.
Schrader made his directorial debut with Naked Tango
Naked Tango
Naked Tango is a 1991 film written and directed by Leonard Schrader. It starred Vincent D'Onofrio, Mathilda May, Esai Morales and Fernando Rey.-Plot summary:...
(1991) for which he also wrote the screenplay. Produced in Argentina, with the 1925 period 'look' overseen by Oscar-winning designer Milena Canonero
Milena Canonero
Milena Canonero is an Italian costume designer, working both for films and stage productions. She has won three Academy Awards for Best Costume design, and been nominated for it eight times.-Career:...
, the independent film starred Vincent D’Onofrio, Mathilda May
Mathilda May
Mathilda May is a French film actress.-Early life:May was born in Paris. Her father is playwright Victor Haïm, who is of Greek and Turkish descent. Her mother is Swedish ballet teacher and choreographer Margareta Hanson...
, Esai Morales
Esai Morales
Esai Manuel Morales is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Bob Morales in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. However, he is best known for his roles as Lt...
, and the late Fernando Rey
Fernando Rey
Fernando Casado Arambillet , best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film, theatre, and TV actor, who worked in both Europe and the United States...
.
Selected filmography
- The YakuzaThe YakuzaThe Yakuza is a 1974 neo-noir gangster film directed by Sydney Pollack, written by Leonard Schrader, Paul Schrader, and Robert Towne.The Yakuza portrays the clash of traditional Japanese values during Japan's transition from the US occupation to economic success in the early 1970s...
(1974) (writer) - Blue CollarBlue Collar (film)Blue Collar is a 1978 film; the directorial debut of screenwriter Paul Schrader. This drama stars Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto.-Plot:...
(1978) (writer) - Tora-san's Dream of SpringTora-san's Dream of Springaka Torasan Dreams Springtime is a 1979 Japanese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō Kuruma , and Kyōko Kagawa as his love interest or "Madonna"...
(1979) (co-writer) - Taiyō o Nusunda OtokoTaiyo o Nusunda OtokoTaiyō o Nusunda Otoko , also known as The Man Who Stole the Sun, is a 1979 satirical film from Japan, directed by Hasegawa Kazuhiko and written by Leonard Schrader.-Plot:...
(English title: The Man Who Stole the Sun) (1979) (writer) (Japan's Best Film of the Year, 1980) - The Killing of America (1982) (writer, producer, director)
- Mishima: A Life in Four ChaptersMishima: A Life in Four ChaptersMishima: A Life in Four Chapters is an American/Japanese film co-written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1985. It was co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas....
(1985) (writer, associate producer) - Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) (writer) (Academy AwardAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-nominee) - Naked TangoNaked TangoNaked Tango is a 1991 film written and directed by Leonard Schrader. It starred Vincent D'Onofrio, Mathilda May, Esai Morales and Fernando Rey.-Plot summary:...
(1990) (writer, director)
Teaching
- From 1996 to 1999, Schrader taught the screenwriting Master's Thesis class at the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. - From 1999 to 2003, Schrader taught at Chapman UniversityChapman UniversityChapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
where he was an associate professor of film. - From 2003 until his death, Schrader was Senior Filmmaker-in-Residence at the American Film InstituteAmerican Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
where he chaired the Screenwriting Department and taught graduate screenwriting.