Schrader's upbringing and critical writing

Schrader was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 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 movie memories. Schrader is of Dutch descent.

Schrader received his B.A. from Calvin College, with a minor in theology. He then earned an M.A. 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 similarities between Robert Bresson, Yasujirō 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.

The September-October 2006 issue of Film Comment magazine published his essay Canon Fodder which attempted to establish criteria for judging film masterworks.

Other film-makers who made a lasting impression on Schrader are 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".

Film career

In 1974, Schrader and his brother Leonard cowrote The Yakuza, a film set in the Japanese crime world. The script became the subject of a bidding war, and it sold for $325,000. The film was directed by Sydney Pollack and starred Robert Mitchum. Robert Towne, best known for Chinatown, also got credit for doing a rewrite.

Although The Yakuza failed commercially, it brought Schrader to the attention of the new generation of Hollywood directors. In 1975, he wrote the script for Obsession for Brian De Palma. Schrader also wrote an early draft of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), but Spielberg disliked the screen-play, 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.

Schrader's script about an obsessed New York City taxi driver was turned into Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver, which was nominated for a 1976 Best Picture Academy Award and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Besides Taxi Driver (1976), Scorsese also drew on scripts by Schrader for boxing tale Raging Bull (1980), co-written with Mardik Martin, The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Bringing Out the Dead (1999).

Thanks partly to critical acclaim for Taxi Driver, Schrader was able to direct his first feature Blue Collar (1978), 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 has described the film as difficult to make, because of the artistic and personal tensions 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 based on Schrader's father.

Among Paul Schrader's films in the 1980s were American Gigolo starring Richard Gere (1980), his 1982 remake of Cat People, and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985). Inspired by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, the film interweaves episodes from Mishima's life with dramatizations of segments from his books. Mishima was nominated for the top prize (the Palme d'Or) at the Cannes Film Festival. Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas served as executive producers.

Schrader also directed 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 90s work included the travelers-in-Venice tale The Comfort of Strangers (1990), adapted by Harold Pinter from the Ian McEwan novel, and Light Sleeper (1992), a sympathetic study of a drug dealer vying for a normal life. In 2005 Schrader described Light Sleeper as his "most personal" film. In 1997 he made Touch (1997), based on an Elmore Leonard novel about a young man seemingly able to cure the sick by the laying on of hands.

In 1998, Schrader won critical acclaim for the drama Affliction. The film tells the story of a troubled small town policeman (Nick Nolte) who becomes obsessed with solving the mystery behind a fatal hunting accident. Schrader's script was based on the novel by Russell Banks. The film was nominated for multiple awards including two Academy Awards for acting (for Nolte and James Coburn). The same year, Schrader received the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award.

In 1999, Schrader received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America.

In 2002, he directed the acclaimed biopic Auto Focus, based on the life and murder of Hogan's Heroes actor Bob Crane.

In 2003, Schrader made entertainment headlines after being fired from The Exorcist: Dominion, a prequel film to the horror classic The Exorcist from 1973. The film's production companies Morgan Creek Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures greatly disliked the film Schrader had made. Director Renny Harlin was hired to then re-shoot nearly the entire film, which was released as Exorcist: The Beginning on August 20, 2004 to disastrously negative reviews and embarrassing box office receipts. Warner Bros. and Morgan Creek put over $80 million into the endeavor and Harlin's film only made back $41 million domestically. Schrader's version of the film eventually premiered at the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film on March 18, 2005 as Exorcist: The Original Prequel. Due to extreme interest in Schrader's version from critics and cinephiles alike, Warner Bros. agreed to give the film a limited theatrical release later that year under the title Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. The film was only shown on 110 screens around the United States and made just $251 thousand. The critics liked Schrader's version much better than Harlin's. However, Schrader's film ultimately met with a generally negative reaction.

After that, Schrader filmed The Walker (2007), starring Woody Harrelson as a male escort caught up in a political murder enquiry, and the Israeli-set Adam Resurrected (2008), which stars Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe.

After five years of trying and failing to find funding to make feature films, Schrader returned with The Canyons (2013) an erotic dramatic thriller written by Bret Easton Ellis and starring Lindsay Lohan and adult-film star James Deen. The film gained a massive amount of publicity since it was one of the very first films to use the website Kickstarter to crowd-source its funding, completely sidestepping the traditional Hollywood system. Schrader also used the website Let It Cast to have unknown actors submit their audition tapes over the internet. American Apparel stepped in to provide some wardrobe for the film. The idea behind making The Canyons was to embrace a Post-Empire sensibility, using the digital filmmaking revolution and popularity of social media and networking to finance, produce, promote and distribute the film. The filming was fraught with massive media coverage due to Lohan's notorious on-set behavior, in tandem with the films highly unusual production route. The film was ultimately made for just $250 thousand and had a limited theatrical release from IFC Films on August 2, 2013. The film was poorly received by general critics and audiences but gained much attention from film theorists and cinephiles who acknowledged the film's daring and groundbreaking production, heralding a new wave of American Independent Cinema. Lohan, despite the controversy that was reported on set, got rave reviews for her performance. The film only made $56 thousand in theaters but was a huge success when released on various Video on Demand platforms, like iTunes.

As of April, 2014, Schrader is in post-production on The Dying of the Light, an espionage thriller starring Nicolas Cage, Anton Yelchin and Irène Jacob.

Schrader headed the International Jury of the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival, and in 2011 became a jury member for the ongoing 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's second marriage is to actress Mary Beth Hurt, who has appeared in smaller roles in a variety of his films.

Theatre career

Schrader has written two stage plays, Berlinale and Cleopatra Club. The latter saw its premiere at the Powerhouse Theater in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1995 and its foreign language debut in Vienna in 2011.

Themes

A recurring theme in Schrader's films is the protagonist on a self-destructive path, or undertaking actions which work against himself, deliberately or subconsciously. The finale often bears an element of redemption, preceded by a painful sacrifice or cathartic act of violence.

Schrader has repeatedly referred to Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Light Sleeper, The Canyons and The Walker as "a man in a room" stories. The protagonist in each film 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: A Life in Four Chapters, 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.

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Name	Director	Screenwriter	Notes
1974	The Yakuza		Yes	Directed by Sydney Pollack. Co-written with Leonard Schrader and Robert Towne.
1976	Taxi Driver		Yes	Directed by Martin Scorsese.
1976	Obsession		Yes	Directed by Brian De Palma.
1977	Rolling Thunder		Yes	Directed by John Flynn. Co-written with Heywood Gould.
1978	Blue Collar	Yes	Yes	Co-written with Leonard Schrader.
1979	Hardcore	Yes	Yes
1979	Old Boyfriends		Yes	Directed by Joan Tewkesbury. Co-written with Leonard Schrader. Producer.
1980	American Gigolo	Yes	Yes
1980	Raging Bull		Yes	Directed by Martin Scorsese. Co-written with Mardik Martin.
1982	Cat People	Yes		Written by Alan Ormsby. Original screenplay by DeWitt Bodeen.
1985	Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters	Yes	Yes	Co-written with Leonard Schrader and Chieko Schrader.
1986	The Mosquito Coast		Yes	Directed by Peter Weir.
1987	Light of Day	Yes	Yes
1988	Patty Hearst	Yes		Written by Nicholas Kazan.
1988	The Last Temptation of Christ		Yes	Directed by Martin Scorsese.
1990	The Comfort of Strangers	Yes		Written by Harold Pinter.
1992	Light Sleeper	Yes	Yes
1994	Witch Hunt (TV)	Yes		Written by Joseph Dougherty.
1996	City Hall		Yes	Directed by Harold Becker. Co-written with Bo Goldman, Nicholas Pileggi, and Ken Lipper.
1997	Touch	Yes	Yes
1997	Affliction	Yes	Yes
1999	Forever Mine	Yes	Yes
1999	Bringing Out the Dead		Yes	Directed by Martin Scorsese.
2002	Auto Focus	Yes		Written by Michael Gerbosi.
2005	Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist	Yes		Written by William Wisher and Caleb Carr.
2007	The Walker	Yes	Yes
2008	Adam Resurrected	Yes		Written by Noah Stollman.
2013	The Canyons	Yes		Written by Bret Easton Ellis.
2015	The Jesuit		Yes	Post-production. Directed by Alfonso Pineda Ulloa.
2014	The Dying of the Light	Yes	Yes
2016	Dog Eat Dog	Yes	Yes

Short films

Director

• 1970 - For Us, Cinema is the Most Important of Arts
• 1995 - New Blue

Music video director

• 1985 - Tight Connection to My Heart for Bob Dylan

Actor

• 2007 - God's Lonely Man as 'Himself'

Stage plays

• Berlinale
• The Cleopatra Club

Short documentary appearances

• 2003 - Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
• 2005 - Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That
• 2005 - Budd Boetticher: An American Original
• 2005 - Pickpocket: Paul Schrader Introduction
• 2007 - Producing 'Taxi Driver'
• 2007 - Influence and Appreciation: A Martin Scorsese Tribute
• 2008 - Murnau, Borzage and Fox
• 2010 - More Tales from the Script
• 2013 - The Making of 'Rolling Thunder'
• 2013 - Creating 'The Canyons'
• 2014 - More Than a Remake: An Interview with Paul Schrader on 'Cat People'

Documentary feature film appearances

• 2013 - Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
• 2013 - Milius
• 2011 - Eames: The Architect & The Painter
• 2011 - These Amazing Shadows
• 2009 - Tales from the Script (Film Website)
• 2008 - Erika Rabau: Puck of Berlin
• 2003 - Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
• 2003 - A Decade Under the Influence

Television appearances

As himself

• The 100 Greatest Films (TV Movie documentary - aired 2001)
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: The Antiheroes (TV Movie documentary -aired 1998)
• American Masters (episode: "Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer" - aired July 2, 1990)
• Charlie Rose (episode: "Episode dated 5 January 1999" - aired January 5, 1999)
• Días de cine (episodes: "Episode dated 10 March 2011," "Episode dated 24 October 2013," "Episode dated 27 February 2014" - aired March 10, 2011, October 24, 2013, February 27, 2014)
• The Directors (episode: "The Films of Paul Schrader" - aired 2002)
• Fear - Angst (TV Movie documentary, aired 1984)
• Festival Pass with Chris Gore (TV Series documentary, aired 2002)
• Godard Made in USA (TV Movie documentary, aired 2010)
• Heroes of Black Comedy (TV Mini-Series documentary, aired 2002)
• The Hollywood Fashion Machine (TV Movie documentary, 1995)
• Hollywood's Best Film Directors (episode: "Paul Schrader" - aired September 1, 2010)
• Lindsay (episode: "Part One" - aired March 9, 2014)
• Männer im Trenchcoat, Frauen im Pelz (TV Movie documentary, aired 2004)
• Metropolis (episode: "Ein Tag mit Paul Schrader" - aired February 14, 2009)
• Nouvelle vague vue d'ailleurs (TV Movie documentary, aired 2009)
• The Passion: Films, Faith & Fury (TV Movie documentary - aired 2006)
• The Rules of Film Noir (TV Movie documentary, aired 2009)
• Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (TV Movie documentary - aired 2004)
• Scene By Scene (episode: '"Paul Schrader" - aired April 25, 1998)
• The Seventh Art (episode: "Issue 13" - aired June 1, 2013)
• The Story of Film: An Odyssey (episodes: "Post-War Cinema," "European New Wave," "American Cinema of the 1970's" - aired October 1, 2011, October 15, 2011, October 29, 2011)

Soundtrack

• 1978 - Blue Collar (lyrics: "Hard Workin Man")
• 1980 - American Gigolo (lyrics: "Love and Passion")
• 1998 - A Civil Action (lyrics: "Hard Workin' Man" (1978))
• 2002 - Auto Focus (lyrics: "Snap!")

Awards

Won

• 1976 - National Board of Review, USA, NBR Award - Top 10 Films of the Year for Obsession
• 1977 - National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA, 2nd Place, NSFC Award - Best Film for Taxi Driver
• 1980 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, LAFCA Award - Best Picture for Raging Bull
• 1980 - National Board of Review, USA, NBR Award - Top 10 Films of the Year for Raging Bull
• 1980 - New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 3rd Place, NYFCC Award - Best Film for Raging Bull
• 1981 - National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA, 2nd Place, NSFC Award - Best Film for Raging Bull (tied with Every Man for Himself)
• 1981 - Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, BSFC Award - Best Film for Raging Bull
• 1990 - National Film Preservation Board, USA, National Film Registry for Raging Bull
• 1993 - New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 3rd place NYFCC Award - Best Film for Light Sleeper
• 1994 - National Film Preservation Board, USA, National Film Registry for Taxi Driver
• 1997 - Valladolid International Film Festival, Youth Jury Award - Special Mention for Affliction
• 1998 - Taos Talking Picture Festival, Storyteller Award
• 1998 - New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 2nd Place, NYFCC Award - Best Film for Affliction
• 1999 - National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA, 2nd Place, NSFC Award - Best Film for Affliction
• 1999 - Golden Trailer Awards, Golden Trailer - Best in Show for Bringing Out the Dead
• 1999 - Writers Guild of America, USA, Laurel Award for Screen Writing Achievement
• 2005 - American Film Institute, USA, Franklin J. Schaffner Award
• 2007 - Stockholm Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2008 - St. Louis International Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2009 - Cinemanila International Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2013 - Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Best Foreign Director for The Canyons
• 2013 - Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Best Foreign Film for The Canyons
• 2013 - Ghent International Film Festival, Joseph Plateau Honorary Award
• 2013 - Valladolid International Film Festival, Honorary Spike for The Canyons

Nominated

• 1977 - Golden Globes, USA, Golden Globe - Best Screenplay - Motion Picture for Taxi Driver
• 1977 - Writers Guild of America, USA, WGA Award (Screen) for Taxi Driver
• 1977 - Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, Golden Scroll - Best Horror Film for Obsession
• 1979 - Berlin International Film Festival, Golden Berlin Bear for Hardcore
• 1981 - Golden Globes, USA, Golden Globe - Best Screenplay - Motion Picture for Raging Bull (shared with Mardik Martin)
• 1985 - Cannes Film Festival, Palme d'Or for Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
• 1988 - Cannes Film Festival, Palme d'Or for Patty Hearst
• 1988 - National Board of Review, USA, NBR Award - Top 10 Films of the Year for The Last Temptation of Christ
• 1989 - Political Film Society, USA, PFS Award - Exposé for Patty Hearst
• 1992 - Berlin International Film Festival, Golden Berlin Bear for Light Sleeper
• 1992 - Deauville Film Festival, Critics Award for Light Sleeper
• 1993 - Independent Spirit Awards, Independent Spirit Award - Best Screenplay for Light Sleeper
• 1993 - Mystfest, Best Film for Light Sleeper
• 1995 - Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, Saturn Award - Best Single Genre Television Presentation for Witch Hunt
• 1997 - Sitges: Catalonian International Film Festival, Best Film for Touch
• 1997 - Valladolid International Film Festival, Golden Spike for Affliction
• 1998 - Independent Spirit Awards, Independent Spirit Award - Best Screenplay for Touch
• 1998 - Independent Spirit Awards, Independent Spirit Award - Best Director for Touch
• 1999 - Independent Spirit Awards, Independent Spirit Award - Best Screenplay for Affliction
• 1999 - Independent Spirit Awards, Independent Spirit Award - Best Director for Affliction
• 2002 - San Sebastián International Film Festival, Golden Seashell for Auto Focus
• 2003 - Golden Trailer Awards, Golden Trailer - Trashiest Trailer for Auto Focus
• 2005 - Golden Raspberry Awards, Razzie Award - Worst Director for Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist

[ Source: Wikipedia ]