Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schraderis an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. Schrader wrote or co-wrote screenplays for four Martin Scorsese films: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christand Bringing Out the Dead. Schrader has also directed 18 feature films, including his directing debut crime drama, Blue Collar, the somewhat autobiographical crime drama Hardcore, his 1982 remake of the horror classic Cat People, the crime drama American Gigolo, the biographical drama Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, the cult...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth22 July 1946
CityGrand Rapids, MI
CountryUnited States of America
I don't think it's very useful to open wide the door for young artists; the ones who break down the door are more interesting.
Ultimately, it's an illusion that you can understand yourself.
The clock is impotent; mechanical time does not affect those living in an eternal present.
You can't take contradiction away. Part of the fun of it is that the contradiction never really quite goes away.
I was raised as a Calvinist, which is doctrine-driven. And though there are many things wrong with Calvinism, you are at least encouraged to argue about things.
The only economic paradigm that movies have ever known is capitalism. There were no church sponsors or state patronage. The idea was that if you'd pay to see it, we'll make it for you.
You know, when you're in your twenties you use a great deal of symbolism. You somehow think that a character standing beneath a cross is more interesting than a character standing underneath a billboard, but when you get a little older you realize that there's not much difference.
Anything that doesn't bore me I think is doable because it's keeping me awake.
'Taxi Driver' wasn't autobiographical in terms of the actual events, but I did draw on my own mental state.
All the animals come out at night.
There's no escape. I'm God's only man.
I get bored very easily. I find most movies boring. I go to movies and ask, "How do they stay awake making this?"
Because many of the films I've made have had an intellectualedge, it's harder for me to lie. It's harder for me to go to peoplewith money and say I don't care about art, all I care about iscommerce; all I really want to do is make money.
All these teachers and [screenwriting] books mean you see movies that have been worked over by more committees wielding more rules, that all originality and authorship is lost. That's why you're seeing superstars like Brad Pitt in THE FIGHT CLUB and Tom Cruise in MAGNOLIA. They're desperately searching for people writing and directing off-formula movies.