Paul Schrader
Encyclopedia
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.
, the son of Joan (née Fisher) and Charles A. Schrader, an executive. Schrader's family practiced in the Calvinist
Christian Reformed Church
, and his early life was based upon the religion's strict principles and parental education. He did not see a film until he was seventeen years old, and was able to sneak away from home. In an interview he stated that The Absent-Minded Professor
was the first film he saw. In his own words, he was "very unimpressed" by it, while Wild in the Country
, which he saw some time later, had quite some effect on him. Schrader refers his intellectual rather than emotional approach towards movies and movie making to his having no adolescent's movie memories.
Schrader received his BA from Calvin College
, with a minor in Theology. He then earned an MA in Film Studies from the UCLA Film School graduate program upon the recommendation of Pauline Kael
. With her as his mentor, he became a film critic, writing for the Los Angeles Free Press
, and later for Cinema magazine. His book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer, which examines the cross-cultural similarities between Robert Bresson
, Yasujiro Ozu
and Carl Theodor Dreyer
, was published in 1972. The endings of Schrader's films American Gigolo
and Light Sleeper
bear obvious resemblance to that of Bresson's 1959 film Pickpocket
. His essay Notes on Film Noir from the same year has become a much cited source in literature on film.
Other filmmakers which made a lasting impression on Schrader were John Ford
, Jean Renoir
, Roberto Rossellini
, Alfred Hitchcock
and Sam Peckinpah
. Renoir's The Rules of the Game
he called the "quintessential movie" which represents "all of the cinema".
with his brother, Leonard
, a film set in the Japanese crime world. Schrader became involved in a bidding war over the script and it sold for $325,000, which was more than any other screenplay up to that time. The film was directed by Sydney Pollack
and featured Robert Mitchum
, with screenplay rewritings by Robert Towne
of Chinatown fame.
Although The Yakuza failed commercially, it brought him to the attention of the new generation
of Hollywood directors. In 1975, he wrote the screenplay of Obsession for Brian De Palma
. Schrader also participated in an early draft of Steven Spielberg
's Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(1977), but Spielberg disliked the screenplay, calling it "terribly guilt-ridden", and opted for a lighter script. His script for Rolling Thunder (1977) was reworked without his participation, and Schrader disapproved of the final film.
His script of Taxi Driver was turned into the Martin Scorsese film, which was nominated for a 1976 Best Picture Academy Award. Besides Taxi Driver (1976), Scorsese also drew on scripts by Schrader for Raging Bull (1980), co-written with Mardik Martin
, The Last Temptation of Christ
(1988), and Bringing Out the Dead
(1999).
Taxi Driver provided the critical acclaim and consequently available funding that enabled Schrader to direct Blue Collar
(1978), also co-written with his brother Leonard. Blue Collar features Richard Pryor
, Harvey Keitel
, and Yaphet Kotto
as car factory workers attempting to escape their socio-economic rut through theft and blackmail
. Schrader recalls that shooting the film was difficult, because of the artistic and personal tension among him and the actors; it was the only occasion he suffered an on-set mental collapse and made him seriously reconsider his career. John Milius
acted as executive producer on the following year's Hardcore (again written by Schrader), which showed autobiographical parallels in the depicted Calvinist milieu of Grand Rapids, and the character of George C. Scott
which was written after Schrader's father.
Among Paul Schrader's films in the 1980s were American Gigolo (1980), his 1982 remake
of Cat People, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
(1985, again co-written with Leonard Schrader, with Francis Ford Coppola
and George Lucas
serving as executive producers), for which he was nominated for the Palme d'Or
prize at that year's Cannes Film Festival
, and Patty Hearst
(1988), about the kidnapping and transformation of the Hearst Corporation
heiress. In 1987, he was a member of the jury at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival
.
His work in the 1990s included The Comfort of Strangers
(1990), adapted by Harold Pinter
from the Ian McEwan
novel, Light Sleeper (1993), a sympathetic study of a drug dealer vying for a normal life, which he called his "most personal" film, Touch
(1997), from an Elmore Leonard
novel, and the rural drama Affliction
(1997), from the Russell Banks
novel, which gained wide critical acclaim. In 1998, Schrader was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's
Distinguished Screenwriter Award.
In 2002 he directed the biopic Auto Focus
, loosely based on the life and murder of Hogan's Heroes
actor, Bob Crane
.
In 2003, Schrader made entertainment headlines for being fired from Exorcist: Dominion, a prequel film to The Exorcist
(1973). The production company, Morgan Creek Productions
/Warner Bros.
disliked the resulting film and had large segments re-shot under director Renny Harlin
; it was released as Exorcist: The Beginning
in 2004. Schrader's version eventually had its premiere at the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film on March 18, 2005 as Exorcist: The Original Prequel. It received limited cinema release under the title Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
in mid-2005.
After that, he filmed The Walker
(2007) and Adam Resurrected (2008).
The September-October 2006 issue of Film Comment magazine published his essay Canon Fodder which attempted to establish criteria for judging film masterworks. Schrader headed the International Jury of the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival. Currently, he is a Jury Member of the continuing Filmaka short film contest.
On July 2, 2009, Schrader was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Screenwriting award at the ScreenLit Festival in Nottingham
, England
. Several of his films were shown at the festival, including Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, which followed the presentation of the award by director Shane Meadows
.
Schrader also wrote two stage plays, Berlinale and Cleopatra Club. The latter saw its premiere in Vienna
in 2011.
Schrader is married in second marriage to actress Mary Beth Hurt
, who appeared in smaller roles in various of his films.
Schrader repeatedly referred to Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Light Sleeper and The Walker as "a man in a room"-films, which form a tetralogy
closing with The Walker. The protagonist changes from an angry, then narcissistic, later anxious character to a person who hides behind a mask of superficiality.
Although many of his films or scripts are based on real-life biographies (Raging Bull, Mishima, Patty Hearst, Auto Focus), Schrader confessed having problems with biographical films due to their altering of actual events, which he tried to prevent by imposing structures and stylization instead.
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:...
, film 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:...
, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
’s Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
and Raging Bull.
Early life
Schrader was 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...
, the son of Joan (née Fisher) and Charles A. Schrader, an executive. Schrader's family practiced in the Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
Christian Reformed Church
Christian Reformed Church in North America
The Christian Reformed Church in North America is a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. Having roots in the Dutch Reformed churches of the Netherlands, the Christian Reformed Church was founded by Gijsbert Haan and Dutch immigrants who left the Reformed Church in...
, and his early life was based upon the religion's strict principles and parental education. He did not see a film until he was seventeen years old, and was able to sneak away from home. In an interview he stated that The Absent-Minded Professor
The Absent-Minded Professor
The Absent-Minded Professor is a 1961 black-and-white Walt Disney Productions film based on the short story A Situation of Gravity, by Samuel W. Taylor....
was the first film he saw. In his own words, he was "very unimpressed" by it, while Wild in the Country
Wild in the Country
Wild in the Country is a 1961 film drama starring Elvis Presley in which he portrays a troubled young man from a dysfunctional family who pursues a literary career. The screenplay was written by playwright Clifford Odets.-Synopsis:...
, which he saw some time later, had quite some effect on him. Schrader refers his intellectual rather than emotional approach towards movies and movie making to his having no adolescent's movie memories.
Schrader received his BA from Calvin College
Calvin College
Calvin College is a comprehensive liberal arts college located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1876, Calvin College is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reformed tradition of Protestantism...
, with a minor in Theology. He then earned an MA in Film Studies from the UCLA Film School graduate program upon the recommendation of Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
. With her as his mentor, he became a film critic, writing for the Los Angeles Free Press
Los Angeles Free Press
The Los Angeles Free Press , also called “the Freep”, was among the most widely distributed underground newspapers of the 1960s. It is often cited as the first such newspaper...
, and later for Cinema magazine. His book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer, which examines the cross-cultural similarities between Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson
-Life and career:Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life and the year of his birth, 1901 or 1907, varies depending on the source. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and...
, Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
and Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer, Jr. was a Danish film director. He is regarded by many critics and filmmakers as one of the greatest directors in cinema.-Life:Dreyer was born illegitimate in Copenhagen, Denmark...
, was published in 1972. The endings of Schrader's films American Gigolo
American Gigolo
American Gigolo is a 1980 crime drama film, written and directed by Paul Schrader. It is informally considered the second installment in his "lonely man" trilogy, following the Martin Scorsese directed Taxi Driver and preceding Light Sleeper .-Plot:Julian Kaye is a male prostitute in Los Angeles...
and Light Sleeper
Light Sleeper
Light Sleeper is an US-american drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1992. It stars Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, and Dana Delany....
bear obvious resemblance to that of Bresson's 1959 film Pickpocket
Pickpocket (film)
Pickpocket is a 1959 film by the French director Robert Bresson. It starred Martin LaSalle, who was a nonprofessional actor at the time, in the title role, with Marika Green as the ingénue...
. His essay Notes on Film Noir from the same year has become a much cited source in literature on film.
Other filmmakers which made a lasting impression on Schrader were John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
, Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...
, Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
and Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
. Renoir's The Rules of the Game
The Rules of the Game
The Rules of the Game is a 1939 French film directed by Jean Renoir about upper-class French society just before the start of World War II...
he called the "quintessential movie" which represents "all of the cinema".
Career
In 1974, Schrader co-wrote The YakuzaThe 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...
with his brother, Leonard
Leonard Schrader
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...
, a film set in the Japanese crime world. Schrader became involved in a bidding war over the script and it sold for $325,000, which was more than any other screenplay up to that time. The film was 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...
and featured 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...
, with screenplay rewritings by Robert Towne
Robert Towne
Robert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...
of Chinatown fame.
Although The Yakuza failed commercially, it brought him to the attention of the new generation
New Hollywood
New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the time from roughly the late-1960s to the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production and...
of Hollywood directors. In 1975, he wrote the screenplay of Obsession for Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
. Schrader also participated in an early draft of Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...
(1977), but Spielberg disliked the screenplay, calling it "terribly guilt-ridden", and opted for a lighter script. His script for Rolling Thunder (1977) was reworked without his participation, and Schrader disapproved of the final film.
His script of Taxi Driver was turned into the Martin Scorsese film, which was nominated for a 1976 Best Picture Academy Award. Besides Taxi Driver (1976), Scorsese also drew on scripts by Schrader for Raging Bull (1980), co-written with Mardik Martin
Mardik Martin
Mardik Martin is an American screenwriter of Armenian descent. He was born in Iran and raised in Iraq. Although his family in Iraq was wealthy, he fled the country to avoid the draft and arrived in New York in a penniless state...
, The Last Temptation of Christ
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Last Temptation of Christ is a novel written by Nikos Kazantzakis, first published in 1953. It was first published in English in 1960. It follows the life of Jesus Christ from his perspective...
(1988), and Bringing Out the Dead
Bringing Out the Dead
Bringing Out the Dead is a 1999 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, and based on the novel by Joe Connelly with the screenplay by Paul Schrader...
(1999).
Taxi Driver provided the critical acclaim and consequently available funding that enabled Schrader to direct 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), also co-written with his brother Leonard. Blue Collar features 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...
, 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 Yaphet Kotto
Yaphet Kotto
Yaphet Frederick Kotto is an African-American actor, known for numerous film roles , and his starring role in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street .-Early life:Kotto was born in New York City, the son of Gladys Marie, a...
as car factory workers attempting to escape their socio-economic rut through theft and blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
. Schrader recalls that shooting the film was difficult, because of the artistic and personal tension among him and the actors; it was the only occasion he suffered an on-set mental collapse and made him seriously reconsider his career. John Milius
John Milius
John Frederick Milius is an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures.-Early life:Milius was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Elizabeth and William Styx Milius, who was a shoe manufacturer. Milius attempted to join the Marine Corps in the late 1960s, but was rejected...
acted as executive producer on the following year's Hardcore (again written by Schrader), which showed autobiographical parallels in the depicted Calvinist milieu of Grand Rapids, and the character of George C. Scott
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...
which was written after Schrader's father.
Among Paul Schrader's films in the 1980s were American Gigolo (1980), his 1982 remake
Cat People (1982 film)
Cat People is a 1982 American erotic horror film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell and John Heard. The film co-stars Annette O'Toole, Ruby Dee, Ed Begley, Jr. and John Larroquette. Jerry Bruckheimer served as executive producer...
of Cat People, 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....
(1985, again co-written with Leonard Schrader, with 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 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...
serving as executive producers), for which he was nominated for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
prize at that year's Cannes Film Festival
1985 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Miloš Forman *Claude Imbert *Edwin Zbonek *Francis Veber *Jorge Amado *Mauro Bolognini *Michel Perez *Mo Rothmann *Néstor Almendros *Sarah Miles...
, and Patty Hearst
Patty Hearst (film)
Patty Hearst is a 1988 biographical film directed by Paul Schrader and stars Natasha Richardson as Hearst Corporation heiress Patricia Hearst and Ving Rhames as Symbionese Liberation Army leader Cinque...
(1988), about the kidnapping and transformation of the Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
heiress. In 1987, he was a member of the jury at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival
37th Berlin International Film Festival
The 37th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 20 February to 3 March 1987.-Jury:* Klaus Maria Brandauer * Juliet Berto* Kathleen Carroll* Callisto Cosulich* Victor Dyomin* Reinhard Hauff* Edmund Luft* Jiří Menzel...
.
His work in the 1990s included The Comfort of Strangers
The Comfort of Strangers (film)
The Comfort of Strangers is a 1990 film directed by Paul Schrader. The screenplay is by Harold Pinter, adapted from a short novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars Natasha Richardson, Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett and Helen Mirren...
(1990), adapted by Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
from the Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan
Ian Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
novel, Light Sleeper (1993), a sympathetic study of a drug dealer vying for a normal life, which he called his "most personal" film, Touch
Touch (film)
Touch is a 1997 film written and directed by Paul Schrader, based on a novel by Elmore Leonard.The film, which has elements of drama and black comedy, stars Christopher Walken, Richard Schiff, Bridget Fonda, Skeet Ulrich, Tom Arnold, Gina Gershon, Lolita Davidovich, Janeane Garofalo and Paul Mazursky...
(1997), from an Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard
Elmore John Leonard Jr. , better known as Elmore Leonard, is an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.Among his...
novel, and the rural drama Affliction
Affliction (film)
Affliction is an US-American drama film produced in 1997, written and directed by Paul Schrader from the novel by Russell Banks. It stars Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn and Willem Dafoe....
(1997), from the Russell Banks
Russell Banks
Russell Banks is an American writer of fiction and poetry.- Biography :Russell Banks was born in Newton, Massachusetts on March 28, 1940. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in upstate New York, and has been named a New York State Author. He is also...
novel, which gained wide critical acclaim. In 1998, Schrader was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's
Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...
Distinguished Screenwriter Award.
In 2002 he directed the biopic Auto Focus
Auto Focus
Auto Focus is a 2002 American biographical film directed by Paul Schrader that stars Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe. The screenplay by Michael Gerbosi is based on the book The Murder of Bob Crane by Robert Graysmith....
, loosely based on the life and murder of Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
actor, Bob Crane
Bob Crane
Robert Edward "Bob" Crane was an American actor and disc jockey, best known for his performance as Colonel Robert E...
.
In 2003, Schrader made entertainment headlines for being fired from Exorcist: Dominion, a prequel film to The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
(1973). The production company, Morgan Creek Productions
Morgan Creek Productions
Morgan Creek Productions is an American film studio that has released box-office hits like Young Guns, Dead Ringers, Major League, True Romance, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The King and I, The Crush, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and others. The studio was co-founded in 1987 by James G...
/Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
disliked the resulting film and had large segments re-shot under director Renny Harlin
Renny Harlin
Renny Harlin is a Finnish-American film director and producer. He is best known for Die Hard 2 , Cliffhanger , The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea...
; it was released as Exorcist: The Beginning
Exorcist: The Beginning
Exorcist: The Beginning is a 2004 prequel to the 1973 film The Exorcist. This is the second version of the third Exorcist sequel. It was adapted by William Wisher Jr., Caleb Carr and Alexi Hawley, and directed by Renny Harlin...
in 2004. Schrader's version eventually had its premiere at the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film on March 18, 2005 as Exorcist: The Original Prequel. It received limited cinema release under the title Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist is a 2005 supernatural horror film directed by Paul Schrader. It is a prequel to The Exorcist .-Plot:...
in mid-2005.
After that, he filmed The Walker
The Walker
The Walker is a 2007 drama film that was written and directed by Paul Schrader. It is a British-American independent production and is the latest installment in Schrader's "night workers" series of films, starting with Taxi Driver in 1976, and then followed by American Gigolo in 1980 and Light...
(2007) and Adam Resurrected (2008).
The September-October 2006 issue of Film Comment magazine published his essay Canon Fodder which attempted to establish criteria for judging film masterworks. Schrader headed the International Jury of the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival. Currently, he is a Jury Member of the continuing Filmaka short film contest.
On July 2, 2009, Schrader was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Screenwriting award at the ScreenLit Festival in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, England
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Several of his films were shown at the festival, including Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, which followed the presentation of the award by director Shane Meadows
Shane Meadows
Shane Meadows is an English film director, screenwriter, occasional actor and BAFTA winner.-Background:Meadows grew up in the Westlands Road area of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. His father was a long distance lorry driver and his mother worked in a fish and chip shop...
.
Schrader also wrote two stage plays, Berlinale and Cleopatra Club. The latter saw its premiere in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 2011.
Schrader is married in second marriage to actress Mary Beth Hurt
Mary Beth Hurt
Mary Beth Hurt is an American actress of stage and screen.-Personal life:Hurt was born Mary Supinger in 1946 in Marshalltown, Iowa, the daughter of Delores Lenore and Forrest Clayton Supinger. Her childhood babysitter was actress Jean Seberg, also a Marshalltown native...
, who appeared in smaller roles in various of his films.
Themes
A recurring theme in Schrader's films is the portrayal of a protagonist who is on a self-destructive path or who undertakes actions which work against himself, deliberately or subconsciously. The finale often bears an element of redemption, preceded by a painful sacrifice or a cathartic act of violence.Schrader repeatedly referred to Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Light Sleeper and The Walker as "a man in a room"-films, which form a tetralogy
Tetralogy
A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works....
closing with The Walker. The protagonist changes from an angry, then narcissistic, later anxious character to a person who hides behind a mask of superficiality.
Although many of his films or scripts are based on real-life biographies (Raging Bull, Mishima, Patty Hearst, Auto Focus), Schrader confessed having problems with biographical films due to their altering of actual events, which he tried to prevent by imposing structures and stylization instead.
As director
- 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) (also co-writer with Leonard Schrader) - Hardcore (1979) (also writer)
- American GigoloAmerican GigoloAmerican Gigolo is a 1980 crime drama film, written and directed by Paul Schrader. It is informally considered the second installment in his "lonely man" trilogy, following the Martin Scorsese directed Taxi Driver and preceding Light Sleeper .-Plot:Julian Kaye is a male prostitute in Los Angeles...
(1980) (also writer) - Cat PeopleCat People (1982 film)Cat People is a 1982 American erotic horror film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell and John Heard. The film co-stars Annette O'Toole, Ruby Dee, Ed Begley, Jr. and John Larroquette. Jerry Bruckheimer served as executive producer...
(1982) - 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) (also co-writer with Leonard Schrader and Chieko Schrader) - Light of DayLight of DayThe soundtrack to the film was released in 1987. As a single, "Light of Day" reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received additional album-oriented rock airplay due to the connection of Joan Jett and Bruce Springsteen....
(1987) (also writer) - Patty HearstPatty Hearst (film)Patty Hearst is a 1988 biographical film directed by Paul Schrader and stars Natasha Richardson as Hearst Corporation heiress Patricia Hearst and Ving Rhames as Symbionese Liberation Army leader Cinque...
(1988) - The Comfort of StrangersThe Comfort of Strangers (film)The Comfort of Strangers is a 1990 film directed by Paul Schrader. The screenplay is by Harold Pinter, adapted from a short novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars Natasha Richardson, Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett and Helen Mirren...
(1990) - Light SleeperLight SleeperLight Sleeper is an US-american drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1992. It stars Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, and Dana Delany....
(1992) (also writer) - Witch HuntWitch Hunt (1994 film)Witch Hunt is a horror/detective HBO movie starring Dennis Hopper. It was directed by Paul Schrader and written by Joseph Dougherty.-Plot:...
(1994) (TV) - TouchTouch (film)Touch is a 1997 film written and directed by Paul Schrader, based on a novel by Elmore Leonard.The film, which has elements of drama and black comedy, stars Christopher Walken, Richard Schiff, Bridget Fonda, Skeet Ulrich, Tom Arnold, Gina Gershon, Lolita Davidovich, Janeane Garofalo and Paul Mazursky...
(1997) (also writer) - AfflictionAffliction (film)Affliction is an US-American drama film produced in 1997, written and directed by Paul Schrader from the novel by Russell Banks. It stars Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn and Willem Dafoe....
(1997) (also writer) - Forever MineForever MineForever Mine is a 1999 film written and directed by Paul Schrader. It stars Joseph Fiennes, Gretchen Mol and Ray Liotta.-Plot:Alan Riply , a young cabana boy working at an opulent beach hotel, falls in love with Ellen Brice , the wife of business mogul Mark Brice . Ellen returns his love, but when...
(1999) (also writer) - Auto FocusAuto FocusAuto Focus is a 2002 American biographical film directed by Paul Schrader that stars Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe. The screenplay by Michael Gerbosi is based on the book The Murder of Bob Crane by Robert Graysmith....
(2002) - Dominion: Prequel to the ExorcistDominion: Prequel to the ExorcistDominion: Prequel to the Exorcist is a 2005 supernatural horror film directed by Paul Schrader. It is a prequel to The Exorcist .-Plot:...
(2005) - The WalkerThe WalkerThe Walker is a 2007 drama film that was written and directed by Paul Schrader. It is a British-American independent production and is the latest installment in Schrader's "night workers" series of films, starting with Taxi Driver in 1976, and then followed by American Gigolo in 1980 and Light...
(2007) (also writer) - Adam Resurrected (2008)
As writer only
- 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...
(1975) (with Leonard Schrader and Robert Towne) dir. Sydney Pollack - Taxi DriverTaxi DriverTaxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
(1976) dir. Martin Scorsese - Obsession (1976) dir. Brian De Palma
- Rolling ThunderRolling Thunder (1977 film)Rolling Thunder is a 1977 film starring William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones. The film was directed by John Flynn. The screenplay was by Paul Schrader and Heywood Gould.-Plot:...
(1977) (with Heywood GouldHeywood GouldHeywood Gould is an American screenwriter, journalist, novelist and film director. He has penned screenplays for such films as Rolling Thunder, The Boys from Brazil, Fort Apache the Bronx, Streets of Gold, Cocktail and directed such films as One Good Cop, Trial by Jury, Mistrial and Double...
) dir. John FlynnJohn Flynn (director)John Flynn was an American film director and screenwriter known for making efficient, no-nonsense crime-thrillers The Outfit and Rolling Thunder.... - Old Boyfriends (1979) (with Leonard Schrader) dir. Joan TewkesburyJoan TewkesburyJoan 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...
- Raging Bull (1980) (with Mardik Martin) dir. Martin Scorsese
- The Mosquito CoastThe Mosquito CoastThe Mosquito Coast is a 1986 American film directed by Peter Weir, based on the novel by Paul Theroux. The film stars Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, and River Phoenix. The film tells the story of a family that leaves the United States and tries to find a happier and simpler life in the jungles of...
(1986) dir. Peter Weir - The Last Temptation of ChristThe Last Temptation of Christ (film)The Last Temptation of Christ is a 1988 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the controversial 1953 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. It stars Willem Dafoe as Jesus Christ, Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot, Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene, David Bowie as...
(1988) dir. Martin Scorsese - City HallCity Hall (film)City Hall is a 1996 film directed by Harold Becker. Al Pacino and John Cusack star as the Mayor of New York and his idealistic deputy mayor....
(1996) (with Bo GoldmanBo GoldmanFor the next few years, Goldman contributed uncredited work to countless scripts including Milos Forman's Ragtime starring James Cagney and Donald O'Connor, The Flamingo Kid starring Matt Dillon, and Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy ....
, Nicholas PileggiNicholas PileggiNicholas Pileggi is an Italian-American author and screenwriter.-Career:Pileggi is best known for writing the book Wiseguy, which he adapted into the movie Goodfellas, and for writing the book and screenplay Casino. The movie versions of both were co-written and directed by Martin Scorsese...
, and Ken Lipper) dir. Harold BeckerHarold BeckerHarold Becker is American film director and producer from New York.-Biography:After studying art and photography at the Pratt Institute, Becker began his career as a still photographer, but later tried his hand at directing television commercials, short films and documentaries... - Bringing Out the DeadBringing Out the DeadBringing Out the Dead is a 1999 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, and based on the novel by Joe Connelly with the screenplay by Paul Schrader...
(1999) dir. Martin Scorsese
Unproduced scripts (partial)
- Pipeliner
- Covert People
- Quebecois
- Eight Scenes From the Life of Hank Williams http://www.weeklyscript.com/Eight%20Scenes%20From%20The%20Life%20Of%20Hank%20Williams%20%28Unproduced%29.txt
- Investigation http://www.writingtreatments.com/Investigation.pdf
- The John Gotti Story
Short films
- For Us, Cinema is the Most Important of Arts (1970)
- Tight Connection (1985, music video)
- New Blue (1995)
Further reading
- Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer, Da Capo Press, 1988 (ISBN 0-306-80335-6).
- Notes on Film Noir, Film Comment, Vol. 8, No. 1, Spring 1972.
External links
- Interview with Schrader from 1998 on 'Bringing Out the Dead' and his writing techniques by Mikael Colville-AndersenMikael Colville-AndersenMikael Colville-Andersen is a Danish-Canadian filmmaker, photographer and urban mobility expert with Copenhagenize Consulting....
. - Video of interview with Paul Schrader about Robert Bresson
- A collection of his film criticism
- Eight Scenes From the Life of Hank Williams (Unproduced Script)