Paul Schrader
- Known for
- Writing
- Born
- July 22, 1946
- Place of birth
- Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Biography
Paul Joseph Schrader (/ˈʃreɪdər/; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first became known for writing the screenplay of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). He later continued his collaboration with Scorsese, writing or co-writing Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Schrader has also worked extensively as a director: his 23 films include Blue Collar (1978), Hardcore (1979), American Gigolo (1980), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), Light Sleeper (1992), Affliction (1997), and First Reformed (2017), with the last of these earning him his first Academy Award nomination. Schrader's work frequently depicts "man in a room" stories which feature isolated, troubled men confronting an existential crisis.
Raised in a strict Calvinist family, Schrader attended Calvin College before pursuing film studies at UCLA on the encouragement of film critic Pauline Kael. He then worked as a film scholar and critic, publishing the book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (1972) before transitioning to screenwriting in 1974. The success of Taxi Driver in 1976 brought greater attention to his work, and Schrader began directing his own films, beginning with Blue Collar (co-written with his brother, Leonard Schrader). Schrader has described three of his recent films as a loose trilogy: First Reformed (2017), The Card Counter (2021), and Master Gardener (2022).
Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Schrader, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies with Paul Schrader
- Dog Eat Dog 2016 · ★ 5.1
- Hitchcock/Truffaut 2015 · ★ 7.2
- Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic 2013 · ★ 7.1
- Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood 2003 · ★ 7.1
- Milius 2013 · ★ 7.1
- A Decade Under the Influence 2003 · ★ 7.9
- Tales from the Script 2009 · ★ 6.6
- Eames: The Architect and the Painter 2011 · ★ 7.0
- Making 'Taxi Driver' 1999 · ★ 7.0
- Venice 70: Future Reloaded 2013 · ★ 5.0
- Playboy: Sex at 24 Frames Per Second 2003 · ★ 5.3
- What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael 2019 · ★ 6.7
- The Rules of Film Noir 2009 · ★ 6.1
- Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light 2006 · ★ 7.1
- The Road to Bresson 1984 · ★ 7.0
- We Blew It 2017 · ★ 5.2
- Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade 2004 · ★ 8.0
- Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That 2005 · ★ 7.0
- Murnau, Borzage and Fox 2008 · ★ 7.0
- Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business 2020 · ★ 3.0
- Birth of a Nation 1997 · ★ 7.0
- Ken San 2016 · ★ 6.7
- Talking with Ozu 1993 · ★ 6.5
- Hollywood Mavericks 1990 · ★ 7.3
- Untitled: New Blue 1995 · ★ 4.7
- Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer 1990 · ★ 5.7
- Raging Bull: Before the Fight 2005 · ★ 10.0
- The Book of Harth 2022 · ★ 8.5
- Männer im Trenchcoat, Frauen im Pelz 2004 · ★ 9.0
- Schrader's Exorcism 2008 · ★ 8.0
- God's Lonely Man 2007 · ★ 6.0
- Influence And Appreciation: A Martin Scorsese Tribute 2007 · ★ 5.0
- Paul Schrader: Man in a Room 2020 · ★ 6.0
- Cat People: An Intimate Portrait by Paul Schrader 2002 · ★ 8.0
- Masterclass di Paul Schrader al Laceno d'Oro 48 2025 · ★ 6.0
- Producing 'Taxi Driver' 2007 · ★ 5.0
- Pictures of Europe 1990
- The Beauty of Horror: Paul Schrader on The Comfort of Strangers 2020
- Best Served Cold: How a Revenge Film was Buried for Decades 2026
- Godard Made in USA 2010
Movies directed by Paul Schrader
- First Reformed 2018 · ★ 7.0
- The Card Counter 2021 · ★ 6.1
- American Gigolo 1980 · ★ 6.2
- Cat People 1982 · ★ 6.0
- Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist 2005 · ★ 5.3
- Dog Eat Dog 2016 · ★ 5.1
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters 1985 · ★ 7.8
- Master Gardener 2023 · ★ 6.0
- Dying of the Light 2014 · ★ 4.7
- Hardcore 1979 · ★ 6.8
- Affliction 1998 · ★ 6.3
- The Canyons 2013 · ★ 4.4
- Auto Focus 2002 · ★ 6.4
- Light Sleeper 1992 · ★ 6.7
- Blue Collar 1978 · ★ 7.3
- The Comfort of Strangers 1990 · ★ 5.9
- The Walker 2007 · ★ 5.3
- Adam Resurrected 2008 · ★ 6.1
- Oh, Canada 2024 · ★ 5.7
- Light of Day 1987 · ★ 5.5
- Patty Hearst 1988 · ★ 5.7
- Forever Mine 1999 · ★ 5.3
- Witch Hunt 1994 · ★ 5.1
- Touch 1997 · ★ 5.6
- Venice 70: Future Reloaded 2013 · ★ 5.0
- Untitled: New Blue 1995 · ★ 4.7
- The Basics of Philosophy 2026 · ★ 5.8