History Creator / PaulSchrader

* ''The Card Counter''

* ''Film/{{Obsession}}'' (directed by Creator/BrianDePalma)

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* ''Film/RollingThunder'' (directed by John T. Flynn)

* ''City Hall'' (directed by Harold Becker)

Schrader's collaborations on such classic films are far more well known than his own films as a director despite being active for forty years, making films in different styles and genres. In his own way, his films have been highly influential. His debut ''Blue Collar'' influenced Creator/WesAnderson and Creator/SpikeLee, and ''Mishima'', his highly original biopic on the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, was the first mainstream American movie to have the dialogue entirely in Japanese. His remake of ''Film/CatPeople'' involved serious [[MsFanservice Fanservice]] on the part of Creator/NastassjaKinski, but it's also oddly compelling. Among his other best films are ''American Gigolo'', starring Creator/RichardGere; ''Film/PattyHearst'', starring Natasha Richardson; ''Light Sleeper'', starring Creator/WillemDafoe and Dana Delany, and ''Affliction'', adapted from a novel by Russell Banks, for which Creator/JamesCoburn won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His later films include ''Auto Focus'' and ''Film/FirstReformed'', with the latter generally being considered a CareerResurrection for Schrader, including earning him his first Academy Award nomination.

! Selected Filmography
!! Screenwriter

!! Director

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/paul_schrader_edited_e1519770350787.jpg]]

Paul Joseph Schrader (born July 22, 1946) is an American film director and critic. Born in 1946 to a conservative Calvinist family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he would not see his first film until the age of 17. A child of the 60s, he would revolt against his family and join the counter culture and embrace the "new freedoms". For some this was rock and roll, for Schrader it was serious films.

As a critic, Paul Schrader was mentored by the famous Creator/PaulineKael and wrote serious studies on FilmNoir and underrated film-makers like Joseph H. Lewis and others. He also wrote on arthouse film-makers like Creator/YasujiroOzu, Creator/CarlTheodorDreyer and his favorite, Creator/RobertBresson, in a still-classic thematic study of all three directors, ''Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer''. He also enjoyed films like ''Film/{{Performance}}'' by Creator/NicolasRoeg and Donald Cammell.

* ''Dog Eat Dog''

* ''Auto Focus''

As a critic, Paul Schrader was mentored by the famous Creator/PaulineKael and wrote serious studies on FilmNoir and underrated film-makers like Joseph H. Lewis and others. He also wrote on arthouse film-makers like Creator/YasujiroOzu, Creator/CarlTheodorDreyer and his favorite, Creator/RobertBresson, in a still-classic thematic study of all three directors, ''Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer''. He also enjoyed films like ''Film/{{Performance}}'' by Creator/NicolasRoeg and Donald Cammell. It wasn't long before he became a screenwriter and an associate of the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood. He worked on the screenplay of Creator/SydneyPollack's ''Film/TheYakuza'', Creator/BrianDePalma's ''Film/{{Obsession}}'', and the early draft of Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' which Spielberg rewrote to the extent that Schrader amicably withdrew credit. His most famous work was ''Film/TaxiDriver'' which was based on his own CreatorBreakdown, in a period where he came dangerously close to suicide and went weeks without talking to people. The collaboration between Scorsese and Creator/RobertDeNiro has tended to make Schrader OvershadowedByAwesome but Scorsese insists that of all their collaborations, ''Taxi Driver'' is the one that most has Schrader all over it. Schrader would go on to make major contributions to such Scorsese films as ''Film/RagingBull'', ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'' and ''Film/BringingOutTheDead'', and the two maintain something of a VitriolicBestBuds connection,

* ''Blue Collar''

* ''Light Sleeper''

* ''Film/TheMosquitoCoast'' (directed by Peter Weir)

* ''[[Film/TheExorcist Dominion: The Prequel of the Exorcist]]''

As a critic, Paul Schrader was mentored by the famous Creator/PaulineKael and wrote serious studies on FilmNoir and underrated film-makers like Joseph H. Lewis and others. He also wrote on arthouse film-makers like Creator/YasujiroOzu, Creator/CarlTheodorDreyer and his favorite, Creator/RobertBresson, in a still-classic thematic study of all three directors, ''Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer''. He also enjoyed films like ''Film/{{Performance}}'' by Creator/NicolasRoeg and Donald Cammell. It wasn't long before he became a screenwriter and an associate of the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood. He worked on the screenplay of Creator/SydneyPollack's ''Film/TheYakuza'', Creator/BrianDePalma's ''Film/{{Obsession}}'', and the early draft of Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' which Spielberg rewrote to the extent that Schrader amicably withdrew credit. His most famous work was ''Film/TaxiDriver'' which was based on his own CreatorBreakdown, in a period where he came dangerously close to suicide and went weeks without talking to people. The collaboration between Scorsese and Creator/RobertDeNiro has tended to make Schrader OvershadowedByAwesome but Scorsese insists that of all their collaborations, ''Taxi Driver'' is the one that most has Schrader all over it. Schrader would go on to make major contributions to such Scorsese films as ''Film/RagingBull'', ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'' and ''Bringing out the Dead'', and the two maintain something of a VitriolicBestBuds connection,

* ''Bringing out the Dead'' (directed by Creator/MartinScorsese)

Born in 1946 to a conservative Calvinist family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Paul Schrader would not see his first film until the age of 17. A child of the 60s, he would revolt against his family and join the counter culture and embrace the "new freedoms". For some this was rock and roll, for Schrader it was serious films.

* ''American Gigolo''

Born in 1946 to a conservative Calvinist family in Grand Ripids, Michigan, Paul Schrader would not see his first film until the age of 17. A child of the 60s, he would revolt against his family and join the counter culture and embrace the "new freedoms". For some this was rock and roll, for Schrader it was serious films.

Schrader's collaborations on such classic films are far more well known than his own films as a director despite being active for forty years, making films in different styles and genres. In his own way, his films have been highly influential. His debut ''Blue Collar'' influenced Creator/WesAnderson and Creator/SpikeLee, and ''Mishima'', his highly original biopic on the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, was the first mainstream American movie to have the dialogue entirely in Japanese. His remake of ''Film/CatPeople'' involved serious [[MsFanservice Fanservice]] on the part of Creator/NastassjaKinski, but it's also oddly compelling. Among his other best films are ''American Gigolo'', starring Creator/RichardGere; ''Film/PattyHearst'', starring Natasha Richardson; ''Light Sleeper'', starring Creator/WillemDafoe and Dana Delany, and ''Affliction'', adapted from a novel by Russell Banks, for which Creator/JamesCoburn won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His later films include ''Auto Focus'' and ''Film/FirstReformed'', with the latter generally being considered a CareerResurrection for Schrader, including earning him first Academy Award nomination.

Schrader's collaborations on such classic films are far more well known than his own films as a director despite being active for forty years, making films in different styles and genres. In his own way, his films have been highly influential. His debut ''Blue Collar'' influenced Creator/WesAnderson and Creator/SpikeLee, and ''Mishima'', his highly original biopic on the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, was the first mainstream American movie to have the dialogue entirely in Japanese. His remake of ''Film/CatPeople'' involved serious [[MsFanservice Fanservice]] on the part of Creator/NastassjaKinski, but it's also oddly compelling. Among his other best films are ''American Gigolo'', starring Creator/RichardGere; ''Film/PattyHearst'', starring Natasha Richardson; ''Light Sleeper'', starring Creator/WillemDafoe and Dana Delany, and ''Affliction'', adapted from a novel by Russell Banks, for which Creator/JamesCoburn won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His later films include ''Auto Focus'' and ''Film/FirstReformed'', with the latter generally being considered a CareerResurrection for Schrader.

Born in 1946 to a conservative Calvinist family in Michigan, Paul Schrader would not see his first film until the age of 18. A child of the 60s, he would revolt against his family and join the counter culture and embrace the "new freedoms". For some this was rock and roll, for Schrader it was serious films.

* ''Film/TheYakuza'' (directed by Creator/SydneyPollack)