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Fifty years after his screenwriting debut via Sydney Pollack’s The Yakuza and a mere forty-six since his directorial debut with Blue Collar, Paul Schrader is still at it. And he’s operating at a higher level than most. A household name for his Scorsese screenplays––Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ chief among them––Schrader made a compelling industry name for himself with his own projects by the late ’70s, cementing himself as one of cinema’s most divisive, most original, and most consistent directors by the late ’80s and early ’90s.

After a series of popular and critical duds from 2003-2016, Schrader re-emerged in fresh creativity with First Reformed in 2017, beginning a phase in his career with the first entry in his “Man in a Room” trilogy that would soon be filled out by The Card Counter and Master Gardener. But not before several...

In the late ’90s, producer James G. Robinson and screenwriter William Wisher Jr. started developing a prequel to the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist – and no one could have predicted just how messy this project would get. Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI director Tom McLoughlin was hired to take the helm, but then dropped out due to issues with the script. John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) took the helm, with author Caleb Carr handling rewrites… then Frankenheimer left because his health was declining (he passed away soon after) and was replaced by Paul Schrader. Schrader was known for writing films like Taxi Driver, Rolling Thunder, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ, and he had also directed several films: Blue Collar, Hardcore, American Gigolo, Cat People, and others. During a recent interview with MovieWeb, Schrader admitted that he shouldn’t have taken on the job of directing Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.

When we speak of the people who shaped cinema in the New Hollywood era of the 1970s, it's impossible to avoid the names Paul Schrader and Martin Scorsese. The duo's first collaboration, 1976's Taxi Driver, for which Scorsese directed Schrader's screenplay, became a critical and box office hit, but also helped shape the gritty antihero cinema of the era. The duo collaborated three more times on some of their most critically acclaimed films 1980's Raging Bull, 1988's The Last Temptation of Christ, and finally, 1999's Bringing Out the Dead.

MovieWeb sat down to speak with Schrader about his upcoming film, Oh, Canada. With Bringing Out the Dead celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, we asked if Schrader and Scorsese had any plans to work together again. Despite the duo's past working relationship and the fact that each of them has struggled to do their take on a Frank Sinatra biopic,...

Uma Thurman was “very nervous” to meet the director of ‘Oh, Canada!’The 54-year-old actress has worked with numerous filmmakers over her several decades in Hollywood but as she arrived to film the new drama film, admitted that she was wary of Paul Schrader because she is such a “big fan” of his to begin with.Speaking during a Q+A session at the New York Film Festival, she said: “I mean, Paul Schrader! I'm a really big fan of Paul Schrader. So to get to contribute, to lend myself to his piece, and get to see him working was a real, real privilege.“I was very nervous to meet him, you know, this macho filmmaker [who] made these legendary films.”Paul is known for directing hits such as ‘Blue Collar’, and ‘Light Sleeper’ but also wrote the screenplay for ‘Taxi Driver’, which earned a teenage Jodie Foster her first Oscar nomination.

Taxi Driver and Raging Bull screenwriter Paul Schrader talks about his "awe" towards Taylor Swift, the current state of the industry, and how his Frank Sinatra film failed to get off the ground.

Paul Schrader has had a prolific career. From working with Martin Scorsese on films like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull to directing his own films starting back in 1978 with Blue Collar, he's earned his recent lifetime achievement award from the Bosnian fest back in 2022. His films often deal with the struggles of men facing existential crises. He's also experienced as a film critic, and his opinions praising films like Oppenheimer and slamming films like Mission: Impossible 7 have gained some attention. His work is highly regarded, with his 2017 film First Reformed netting him an Academy Award nomination.

Related Martin Scorsese's 10 Lowest-Rated Movies, Ranked

Martin Scorsese is one of the best directors ever, but not all of his movies were hits.

Paul Schrader might not be a Swiftie, but the veteran screenwriter-director admits that he’s in “awe” of the pop megastar.

“It’s not so much the music that entrances me, it’s the phenomenon. The Elvis-ness of it all,” Schrader told Variety. “You have to look in awe at how well she and her people have created this empire.”

The “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull” scribe is at the Sarajevo Film Festival this week, where he’s the president of the features jury.

Schrader, who received a lifetime achievement award from the Bosnian fest in 2022, is also in town to promote his latest film, “Oh, Canada,” which reunites the “American Gigolo” writer-director with leading man Richard Gere after 40 years. The film competed for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Speaking about his prolific and lengthy career, Schrader looked back at the days of the...

The 1970s were a Golden Age for crime movies, showcasing bold experiments and rising talents in the industry. The Godfather may be the most famous, but lesser-known gems like The American Friend and Blue Collar are worth watching. Filmmakers like Scorsese and Cassavetes made their mark with gritty tales of urban corruption in iconic films of the era.

The 1970s are known cinematically as the peak of New Hollywood, a period ripe with bold experimentation by artists at the height of their talent and influence, delivering a wave of classics in the making after the slow death of the creaky studio system. The era was also a high point for some of the best crime movies, from scrappy high-wire acts by older auteurs, like Sidney Lumets Dog Day Afternoon, to pulpy, high-concept thrill rides, like Walter Hills The Warriors.

The most famous 70s crime movie is undoubtedly Francis Ford Coppolas mob masterpiece The Godfather,...

Veteran director and screenwriter Paul Schrader will be honored at this year’s Lucaa Film Festival with a lifetime achievement award.

The Italian event, which runs Sept. 21-29, will also screen a retrospective of Schrader’s work, including Blue Collar, Hardcore, The Comfort of Strangers, Affliction, Auto Focus, The Walker, The Canyons, The Card Counter, Master Gardener, Mishima, and First Reformed.

On Sept. 26, Schrader will hold a public masterclass at the Cinema Astra, attended by film students from various Italian universities. The following day he will receive the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The director began his career as a screenwriter for Martin Scorsese with scripts to such classics as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver before stepping behind the camera for his 1978 directorial debut Blue Collar, a crime drama starring Richard Pryor and Harvey Keitel. Schrader’s greatest commercial success came in the early 80s with films including American Gigolo (1980) starring Richard Gere,...

Paul Schrader is a filmmaker and screenwriter who specializes in tense thrillers and character-driven neo-noir. He initially gained recognition as the writer of 1970s gems like Taxi Driver and Rolling Thunder, before stepping into the director's chair himself with 1978's Blue Collar. Since then, he has produced several provocative and intelligent films, often exploring themes of guilt, redemption, and existential angst. His latest project is a drama called Oh, Canada with Richard Gere and Uma Thurman, set for release later this year.

Before David Simon debuted his groundbreaking socio-political tapestry “The Wire” to audiences and helped garner the prestige HBO now only reserves for “Game of Thrones” and superhero spinoffs, he wrote the book on the world of crime and law enforcement in Baltimore. Published in 1991, his non-fiction book “Homicide: A Year of Killing Streets” pools two years of research from Simon’s time spent observing the Baltimore Police Department, which itself followed four years spent on the police beat for The Baltimore Sun newspaper.

Wishing to adapt the book into a feature film, Simon got a copy to filmmaker and Baltimore native Barry Levinson, who felt the material was better suited to a TV series. Levinson shared with Paul Attansio, a former Washington Post film critic whose would go on to write the Oscar-nominated “Quiz Show,” as well as “Donnie Brasco,” and together the team brought the project to NBC, where...

U.S. director-screenwriter Paul Schrader will serve as president of the features jury of the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival, which runs from Aug. 16 to 23.

Schrader will be joined on the jury by Swedish actor and producer Noomi Rapace, Finnish director-writer Juho Kuosmanen, Sarajevo-born, Paris-based director, writer and editor Una Gunjak, and Slovenian actor Sebastian Cavazza.

The jury will announce the winners of the Heart of Sarajevo awards on Aug. 23.

Schrader first made his mark as a screenwriter with “Taxi Driver” (1976), directed by Martin Scorsese, and his collaboration with Scorsese continued with films like “Raging Bull” (1980).

He made his directorial debut with “Blue Collar” (1978) and went on to direct critically acclaimed films such as “American Gigolo” (1980) and “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” (1985).

In 2017, he wrote and directed “First Reformed,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay.

Recent projects include “The Card Counter” (2021), “Master Gardener” (2022) and “Oh Canada...

Wilder and Pryor's comedic chemistry in films like Silver Streak and Stir Crazy was unmatched in American cinema history. Despite societal boundaries, Wilder and Pryor broke barriers as a rare black and white comedy duo in the film industry. The disappointing end of their partnership in Another You highlighted the struggles faced due to Richard Pryor's deteriorating health.

The screen duo of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor was one of the greatest pairings of comedians American cinema had ever seen, and together, the two made four feature films between 1976 and 1991. With an innate understanding of one anothers comedic sensibilities, whenever Wilder and Pryor shared a scene together, hilarity was almost a certainty, as they could expertly adlib and always get the best out of one another. While both performers had acclaimed careers as individuals, they accomplished some of their best work together.

Of course, Wilder was known for...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Am I Ok? (Stephanie Allyne and Tig Notaro)

A romantic comedy that functions best as a fable of friendship and self-reflection, Am I Ok? is the kind of lightweight, amiable movie that just barely earns the emotional beats at the heart of its story. Set in Los Angeles, it follows the converging life events of two best friends, Lucy (Dakota Johnson) and Jane (Sonoya Mizuno), soul sisters with opposite personalities who tell each other everything—except for the big secrets they’ve been harboring from each other. How they respond to hearing them fuels Stephanie Allyne and Tig Notaro’s gentle and wobbly feature debut. – Jake K-s. (full review)

Where to Stream: Max

Dad & Step-Dad (Tynan DeLong)

Following the stellar comedy Free Time,...

Paul Schrader has long been known for his gruff personality, but he was in good spirits and slightly nostalgic during the Saturday press conference at the Cannes Film Festival for his latest film, Oh, Canada, where he also revealed his next film.

Schrader’s iconic team-up with Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver, premiered at the festival, and the filmmaker has had several runs at the French fest since. This year’s Cannes sees the return of not only Schrader, but Francis Ford Coppola with Megalopolis and George Lucas, who will be on hand to receive an honorary Palme d’Or.

When asked if, at the time, he knew that he and the other directors that were dubbed “New Hollywood” were changing film forever, Schrader said bluntly: “Yes.”

He addressed that time of anxiety in the industry that saw many films failing at the box office. “When the late ’60s hit, studios...

Oh, Canada debuting this week on the Croisette is high time to see lesser-seen Schrader on the Criterion Channel, who’ll debut an 11-title series including the likes of Touch, The Canyons, and Patty Hearst, while Old Boyfriends (written with his brother Leonard) and his own “Adventures in Moviegoing” are also programmed. Five films by Jean Grémillon, a rather underappreciated figure of French cinema, will be showing

Series-wise, there’s an appreciation of the synth soundtrack stretching all the way back to 1956’s Forbidden Planet while, naturally, finding its glut of titles in the ’70s and ’80s––Argento and Carpenter, obviously, but also Tarkovsky and Peter Weir. A Prince and restorations of films by Bob Odenkirk, Obayashi, John Greyson, and Jacques Rivette (whose Duelle is a masterpiece of the highest order) make streaming debuts. I Am Cuba, Girlfight, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Dazed and Confused are June’s Criterion Editions.

Paul Schrader has always been a poet of collapse. The difference, in terms of both the trajectory and execution between Schrader’s old pictures and his newer ones, is actually fairly straightforward. In both the works he has penned for other filmmakers to direct, and also the screenplays he opted to direct himself, Schrader has written about the spiritual collapse of men. He has written of sexually insecure, mentally ill cab drivers (Taxi Driver), jealous, possessive, abusive boxers (Raging Bull), alcoholics (Affliction), drug dealers (Light Sleeper), and the relentlessly overworked American middle class. Sure, Schrader has always been prone to the occasional left-field experiment, but year after year, decade after decade, the man has continually returned to these single-minded, entropic cinematic poems of male alienation and self-immolation.

This year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is set to take place from September 7th through the 17th, and yesterday they invited film fans to guess which ten movies they’ll be screening in their Midnight Madness lineup this year. The hints were the titles of ten movies that could be compared to the films in the lineup in some way. They were Trey Parker’s Orgazmo, Geoff Murphy’s Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Jimmy Wang Yu’s Fantasy Mission Force, Charles Martin Smith’s Trick or Treat, Stan Brakhage’s Dog Star Man, Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead, Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar, Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf, and Theodore J. Flicker’s Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang. Now TIFF has announced the full lineup for both their Midnight Madness and Discovery programmes, and...

Robbie Bachman, the drummer and co-founder of the hit-making 1970s rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, has died. He was 69.

His death was announced by brother and bandmate, the guitarist and singer Randy Bachman. A cause of death was not immediately available.

“Another sad departure,” Randy Bachman tweeted last night. “The pounding beat behind Bto, my little brother Robbie has joined Mum, Dad & brother Gary on the other side. Maybe Jeff Beck needs a drummer! He was an integral cog in our rock ‘n’ roll machine and we rocked the world together.”

Playing the drums since childhood, Robin Peter Bachman was recruited at age 18 by his big brother Randy, who had already found international success in the band The Guess Who. After Randy left that group in 1970, he formed a short-lived group called Brave Belt, with 18-year-old Robbie on drums.

Brave Belt, with other members including bassist/singer Fred Turner and a third Bachman brother,...

If you are a first-time filmmaker keen to have a long career in the motion picture industry, write a part for Harvey Keitel and get it to him Asap.

Over his magnificent 55-year career, Keitel has been a good luck charm for some of the greatest directors in the industry. His auspicious streak kicked off with his very first leading role in Martin Scorsese's very first feature film, "Who's That Knocking at My Door." Scorsese's done fairly well for himself. So had Ridley Scott, who began his big-screen career by directing Keitel in 1977's "The Duelists." A year later, Keitel hooked up with "Taxi Driver" screenwriter Paul Schrader for "Blue Collar." This was evidently a nightmare production for the overwhelmed Schrader, but the raves, many of which singled out Keitel's performance, earned the scribe a reputation as an actor's director. Also in 1978, Keitel dazzled as a prodigious pianist...

Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. Magnolia Pictures releases the film in theaters on Friday, May 19.

Paul Schrader proudly has little concern with how likable he, or his work, is. For his fans, this is part of the joy, finding delight in his prickly Facebook posts and reveling in the black, gnarled heart beating at the center of much of his oeuvre. After the recent existential nightmare of “First Reformed” and last year’s stunningly cruel psychodrama “The Card Counter,” which also premiered on the Lido, Schrader returned to Venice to receive an Honorary Golden Lion award and regale the audience with another gritty tale of redemption. He spoke about “Master Gardener” with his signature nihilist wink and told IndieWire, “This one is going to piss people off. Obama’s not putting it on his top 10 list.”

It is with those expectations, and...

Click here to read the full article.

Ahead of the world premiere of Paul Schrader’s latest feature, Master Gardener, at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, the legendary screenwriter and director was nudged into casting a backward glance on his 50-year career in the movies. Next week in Venice, the auteur will receive an honorary Golden Lion for his contributions to cinema.

Early in the press conference, Schrader was asked which of the films he’s directed he thinks best represents him.

“You know, directors like and dislike their children for different reasons,” he replied. “Probably my favorite is Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, just because it’s the damnedest thing. I still can’t believe I ever made that film. The most personal for me is First Reformed or Affliction. The best stylistically, I think, is Comfort of Strangers. Cat People is kind of special. You know,...

Paul Schrader woke up in New Orleans with four days of shooting left on his new movie, “Master Gardener,” when he thought he was going to die. He had severe breathing problems and trouble seeing out of his left eye, so he decided to get up and go to work.

“I knew if I called 911, those bastards would never let me out of the hospital, and the film would not be finished,” Schrader said. “So I lay there in bed and said, ‘Well, maybe I won’t wake up tomorrow — but would I rather not wake up tomorrow or wake up in the hospital room, knowing I can’t finish my film?’ And so I made my decision.”

Schrader still hasn’t figured out the specific cause of those ailments, but the 76-year-old’s commitment to filmmaking at all costs isn’t a surprise. “Master Gardener” is another of Schrader’s man-in-the-room dramas,...

(Clockwise from top left) Valley Girl (Shout Factory); Touch Of Evil (Universal Pictures); Blue Collar (Universal Pictures), The Thin Man (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Graphic: Rebecca Fassola In the great streaming wars, the Criterion Channel has consistently been an overlooked service—even here at The A.V. Club. While it may not feature a robust,...

Stars: Rea Rangaka, Sechaba Ramphele, Kiroshan Naidoo, Greg Viljoen, Stevel Marc, Aimee Ntuli | Written by Gareth Crocker | Directed by Fred Wolmarans, Gareth Crocker

Office Invasion is the latest in a long line of films to use science fiction as a vehicle to poke fun at society. Writer Gareth Crocker and co-director Fred Wolmarans have come up with an idea that not only takes shots at corporate culture and the treatment of workers, but being a South African film also becomes a fairly direct parable about colonialism.

Three friends Sam, Junior (Sechaba Ramphele; Love on Safari), and Prince work for Ami a corporation that mines a rare metal called Zulcanoid for which there is far more demand than supply.

When the company is suddenly sold and the new owners Gregory, Badrick, and Anya (Aimee Ntuli) claim that business is slow and initiate severe austerity measures, including ending medical benefits, something that hits Sam,...

Riverdale Blue Collar Trailer — The CW‘s Riverdale: Season 6, Episode 16: Blue Collar TV show trailer has been released. Cast and crew Riverdale stars K.J. Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Marisol Nichols, Madelaine Petsch, Mark Consuelos, Casey Cott, Skeet Ulrich, Charles Melton, Vanessa Morgan, and Madchen Amick. Based on the characters from [...]

Continue reading: Riverdale: Season 6, Episode 16: Blue Collar TV Show Trailer [The CW]...

Writer, director and actor Michael Showalter joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

The Baxter (2005)

Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)

Runaway Daughters (1994)

Clueless (1995)

Bagdad Cafe (1987)

Coda (2021)

The Long Goodbye (1973) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Sugarbaby (1985)

City Slickers (1991)

Attack! (1956) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Paris, Texas (1984) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Pretty In Pink (1986)

Escape From New York (1981) – Neil Marshall’s trailer commentary

Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)

The Warriors (1979)

The Thing (1982) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Christine (1983)

Crossing Delancey (1988)

Annie Hall (1977) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary

When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

The Fugitive (1993)

The Big Sick (2017) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Between The Lines...

Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman takes hosts Joe Dante and Josh Olson on a journey through some of his favorite cinematic tonal shifts.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Thank You For Smoking (2006)

Up In The Air (2009)

Juno (2007)

Young Adult (2011)

Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Seven Samurai (1954) Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Rififi (1955)

Titane (2021)

Cannibal Girls (1973)

Raw (2016)

Hellraiser (1987)

A Serbian Film (2010)

Cast Away (2000)

What Lies Beneath (2000)

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Downhill Racer (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Breaking Away (1979)

Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)

Psycho (1960) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Psycho (1998) – Ti West’s trailer commentary

Last Night In Soho (2021)

Funny Games (1997)

Funny Games (2008)

The Piano Teacher (2001) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray

I, The Jury (1982)

Mother! (2017)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Tully (2018)

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review, Tfh’s 30th anniversary links...

Celebrating the release of his new memoir, multi-hyphenate Steven Van Zandt joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss a few of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Elevator To The Gallows (1958) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Breathless (1960) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

The Fisher King (1991)

Tony Rome (1967)

Lady In Cement (1968)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

The Killer (1989)

True Romance (1993)

True Lies (1994)

Get Shorty (1995) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Point Blank (1967) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Catch Us If You Can a.k.a. Sweet Memories (1965)

Double Trouble (1967)

Performance (1970) – Mark Goldblatt’s trailer commentary

The Driver (1978)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Tfh’s Don’t Knock The Rock piece

Help! (1965) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review

Blue Collar (1978) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s...

Robin French, a talent agent who worked with legends including Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor and later headed production at Paramount Pictures in the late 1970s, has died. His family said he had been in declining health for the past few months and died September 6 in Palm Desert, CA.

“Dad left knowing that we love him so much, and that we are all safe and secure thanks in large part to his fierce devotion to us,” his children said in a statement. “He was so smart, funny, loyal, friendly, grumpy, opinionated and just a one-of-a-kind guy. We will all miss him forever, but feel so lucky that he was our Dad.”

French began his career as an agent at Chartwell, working with his father, Hugh French — a former actor who become an agent whose clients in the 1950s and ’60s included Brando, Taylor and Richard Burton — and Jerry Perenchio.

During his agenting days,...

“I have decided to keep a journal. Not in a word program or digital file, but in longhand, writing every word out so that every inflection of penmanship, every word chosen, scratched out, revised, is recorded. To set down all my thoughts and the simple events of my day factually and without hiding anything. When writing about oneself, one should show no mercy. I will keep this diary for one year; 12 months. And at the end of that time, it will be destroyed. Shredded, then burnt. The experiment will be over.” Searching narration binds Paul Schrader’s work, the lone ranger facing a crisis of faith, unable to shake off the past. The above dialogue introduces Ethan Hawke’s Reverend Ernst Toller at the beginning of First Reformed (2017). Schrader’s characters share their own folklore and throughout this mix their tales come and go. The lyrics take on the form of character too,...

Since 1976’s “Taxi Driver,” filmmaker Paul Schrader says he has been looking for certain problems that he could place within a metaphor. In that case, he says, “It was a young man’s sense of loneliness, and the yellow taxi car was the metaphor. And I’d put the two together to create sparks and see what happens.”

He does it again in his latest movie, “The Card Counter,” which bows at the Venice Film Festival Sept. 2. This time, he wanted to do the story of someone in purgatory — the casino circuit was the perfect setting. “When was the last time you saw someone laughing there?” he asks. The film follows William (Oscar Issac), a veteran who served at Abu Ghraib. He is also a lonely and tortured soul.

“I discovered when I put the metaphor and a problem next to each other that this was a man who would...

After a hiatus where New York’s theaters closed during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings are taking place.

Film at Lincoln Center

Jia Zhangke’s Xiao Wu plays through the weekend, while Raúl Ruiz’s The Tango of the Widower screens this Saturday.

Museum of the Moving Image

2001 plays on Sunday.

Film Forum

The huge Humphrey Bogart series continues, still stacked with great films, as do La Piscine and Blue Collar.

IFC Center

World of Wong Kar-wai has been extended, while Miyazaki’s debut Lupin the 3rd begins its run.

Roxy Cinema

The natural pairing of L’Avventura and Body Double run this weekend.

The post NYC Weekend Watch: Raúl Ruiz, The Big Sleep, L'Avventura & More first appeared on The Film Stage.

After a hiatus as theaters in New York City and beyond closed their doors during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, there’s a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings taking place.

Museum of the Moving Image

Prints of 2001 (on 70mm), Full Metal Jacket, and The Right Stuff have screenings; The Young Girls of Rochefort has a matinee screening on Friday, while Thief plays Sunday to kick off this year’s Caan Film Festival.

Film at Lincoln Center

The restoration of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s masterpiece Flowers of Shanghai continues, while the great Simone Barbes or Virtue shows through the weekend.

Film Forum

Le Cercle Rouge La Piscine, and 8½ continue, while a print of Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar begins a week-long run; Kent Jones will conduct a Q & A on Friday.

Paul Schrader’s post-Taxi Driver rust belt auto worker directorial debut was shot in Kalamazoo, Michigan with three lead actors who hated each other and sometimes resorted to on-set fist fights. Nonetheless, each provides brilliant moments, none more so than Richard Pryor in what may be his greatest performance.

The post Blue Collar appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: David Fincher and Gary Oldman on the set of Mank (2020). David Fincher's Mank leads this year's nominations for the Academy Awards. A complete list of all nominations can be found here.Legendary actor Yaphet Kotto, best known for his charismatic presence in films like Alien, Blue Collar, and Live and Let Die has died.Spike Lee will be leading the 2021 Cannes Film Festival Jury, promising to return after the cancellation of last year's festival: "Book my flight now, my wife and I are coming!" After a months-long hiatus, Film Comment has announced its return, marked by a new weekly letter and two new episodes of the Film Comment podcast. Recommended VIEWINGAbove: Mark Rappaport's The Stendhal Syndrome or My Dinner with Turhan Bey. Today's the last day to watch two new essay films...

Yaphet Kotto, an actor known for his performances in “Alien,” the James Bond film “Live and Let Die” and the television series “Homicide: Life on the Street,” has died, his agent Ryan Goldhar confirmed to Variety. He was 81.

Kotto’s wife, Tessie Sinahon, first posted about Kotto’s death on Facebook Monday night.

“I’m saddened and still in shocked of the passing of my husband Yaphet of 24 years. He died last night around 10:30pm Philippine time,” sge wrote. “…You played a villain on some of your movies but for me you’re a real hero and to a lot of people also. A good man, a good father, a good husband and a decent human being, very rare to find. One of the best actor in Hollywood a Legend. Rest in Peace Honey, I’m gonna miss you everyday, my bestfriend, my rock.”

In 1973’s “Live and Let Die,...

Actress Carrie Coon joins Josh and Joe to discuss the Best of what she’s been watching during the pandemic.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Nest (2020)

Gone Girl (2014)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Sabrina (1954)

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Opening Night (1977)

Husbands (1971)

Too Late Blues (1961)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Faces (1968)

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

Gloria (1980)

Mephisto (1981)

The Cremator (1969)

Zama (2017)

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017)

Wanda (1970)

Blue Collar (1978)

The Lunchbox (2013)

63 Up (2019)

To Sleep With Anger (1990)

Killer of Sheep (1978)

The Glass Shield (1994)

My Brother’s Wedding (1983)

Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987)

Rio Bravo (1959)

Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)

Cutter’s Way (1981)

Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

The Magician (1958)

The Silence (1963)

The Magic Flute (1975)

The Last House on the Left (1972)

The Virgin Spring (1963)

Summer with Monika (1953)

The Seventh Seal (1957)

Wings of Desire (1987)

Black Girl (1966)

Fat Girl (2001)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Parasite (2019)

Jesus of Montreal (1989)

Other Notable Items...

Paul Schrader is one of the most accomplished writers and directors Hollywood has seen over the past 45 years. After spending years as a film critic, Schrader altered the course of his career when selling his first screenplay for The Yakuza, which went on to be directed by Sydney Pollack. Two years later, he wrote Taxi Driver for Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro.

Related: 15 Most Memorable Quotes From Taxi Driver

In 1978, Schrader made his directorial debut with the buddy-heist film Blue Collar. Since then, Schrader has directed more than 20 feature films while still working as a screenwriter on other projects. He is currently filming The Card Counter, starring Willem Dafoe and Oscar Isaac, here are Paul Schrader's 10 best movies (as director), according to IMDb.

In our 100th episode, Edgar Wright takes us on a musical journey through some of his favorite cinematic needle drops.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970)

Baby Driver (2017)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Vanishing Point (1971)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Deja Vu (2006)

Man On Fire (2004)

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Alien (1979)

The Mexican (2001)

Gremlins (1984)

American Graffiti (1973)

Star Wars (1977)

Jaws (1975)

The Exorcist (1973)

Halloween (1978)

The Amityville Horror (1979)

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Deep Red (1976)

Suspiria (1977)

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975)

An American Werewolf In London (1981)

The Long Goodbye (1973)

The Evil Dead (1983)

Face/Off (1997)

The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

Mandy (2018)

The Hallow (2015)

The Nun (2018)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Christine (1983)

Blue Collar (1978)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Mauvais Sang (1986)

Frances Ha (2012)

The Lovers On The Bridge (1991)

Holy Motors (2012)

Annette (Tbd)

Goodfellas (1990)

Mean Streets (1973)

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)

Raging Bull (1980)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Mad Max (1979)

Babe (1995)

Happy Feet (2006)

Dr. Strangelove...

Paul Schrader’s early career is a mix of seminal classics and underappreciated gems. While he began as a screenwriter, penning a thorny trifecta of grimly masculine and formidably troubled characters for Sydney Pollack, Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma, Schrader began his own directorial career with the unfortunately underseen Blue Collar, a 1978 dramatic thriller which starred Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto as a trio of auto workers who decide to rob their own union office only to discover the consequences far outweigh their gain.

A grueling shoot, partially due to the trenchant discord amongst the three leads, which led to a highly publicized incident wherein Pryor threatened Schrader with a gun, eventually leading to Schrader having a reported nervous breakdown.…...

Lawrence G. Paull, a production designer and art director whose work on the science fiction classic Blade Runner earned him an Oscar nomination and won a BAFTA Award, died Sunday in La Jolla, Calif. He was 81. No cause of death was given.

Paull had a long history in Hollywood, designing for such films as Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future (1985) and Romancing the Stone (1984) and Ron Underwood’s City Slickers (1991).

Blade Runner was a groundbreaking visual effort, winning Paull an Academy Award nomination for production design in 1982. The Oscar went to the creators of Gandhi, but Paull later won a BAFTA together with futurist Syd Mead and VFX inventor Douglas Trumbull. Three years later, Paull again was nominated for a BAFTA for his work on Back to the Future.

Born in Chicago in 1938, Paull graduated from the University of Arizona. He soon discovered that architecture was too conservative for him,...

RelaxerThere is no clear, direct film comparison to provide for Joel Potrykus’s Relaxer. It can feel like a blender of one director’s proclivities and tastes. That speaks well for Potrykus’s imagination, one who alchemizes and is inspired by polar opposite film sensibilities, as there are times Relaxer looks and goes in directions uncharted by current American independent cinema. In its play-like staging, gross-out humor, and signifiers of the end of the century that tease an alternative reality, Relaxer is a gnarly, minimalist tour de force, Sartre’s No Exit for the Y2K period slacker. Slackerdom is hardly the new exploration in American indies. Richard Linklater built his career on such character types. His slackers, however, carried an air of pretension to occupy themselves, like reading the classics or deep-diving into conspiracy theories. Even with Linklater’s Rohmerian style of centering philosophical conversations, his works had an...

Hilary Winston is staying put at Sony TV.

The comedy writer, whose credits include Marry Me and Bad Teacher, has inked a new two-year overall deal to remain with the indie studio. Sources say the pact is valued in the eight-figure range.

When the new agreement ends, Winston will have been with Sony TV for an impressive 15 years. She has worked on a number of the studio's comedies, including Community and Dr. Ken and counts shows like Happy Endings, My Name Is Earl and Blue Collar TV among her impressive list of credits.

Winston is the latest ...

This article about Ethan Hawke first appeared in the TheWrap Magazine’s Oscar Nominations Preview issue.

They knew it on the first day of rehearsal. Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Philip Ettinger and Cedric Kyles had gathered to run through the script of “First Reformed” when they all noticed something about their writer-director, Paul Schrader.

“We read through the script, and Paul was trembling,” said Hawke, who plays a minister struggling with a crisis of faith after his son is killed in Iraq. “He was trembling the way a young artist trembles with anticipation, anxiety, fear, electrical current. He’s 71 and he’s made a ton of movies, and he was trembling.

“And we all looked at each other and went, ‘Wow, this is extremely important to this man.’ And that’s the way it felt on the set. He would forget to say hello, he would forget to say goodbye.

Every Friday, we’re recommending an older movie available to stream or download and worth seeing again through the lens of our current moment. We’re calling the series “Revisiting Hours” — consider this Rolling Stone’s unofficial film club. This week’s edition: Alex Pappademas on Paul Schrader’s 1978 working-class raunchcom/working-man’s crime drama Blue Collar.

Two Detroit auto-plant workers are meeting up for a substance-fueled orgy at the home of a third. Zeke (Richard Pryor) and Jerry (Harvey Keitel) are both married; their host is Smokey (Yaphet Kotto), who isn’t.

“One Dollar” is not a show that has an easy, recent analogue to anything in the film and TV world. For the director behind the CBS All Access drama, that was both an exciting prospect and a bit of an indictment of the kinds of stories that have made it to screens in recent decades.

“When we started referencing other movies that are telling a story like this, they’re all like ‘Norma Rae,’ ‘Blue Collar.’ They’re all ’70s stories. People haven’t been making very many stories in that culture in a while actually,” director Craig Zobel told IndieWire.

What came from the process was a 10-episode season set in the western Pennsylvania town of Braden. Set against the backdrop of a mysterious death at a steel mill, the resulting story winds its way through a factory town kaleidoscope of individuals, all via the path of a single dollar bill.

Stars: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric the Entertainer, Victoria Hill, Philip Ettinger, Michael Gaston, Bill Hoag, Kristin Villanueva | Written and Directed by Paul Schrader

Infamous writer and director Paul Schrader returns to cinema screens after a desolate and toxic decade fighting against studio interference and the ideals of an auteur’s final cut. Spending a large amount of his career being the backbone and spine to many utterly outstanding and defining films in American cinema and masters at the helm, notably writing four Martin Scorsese features: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and as of 1999, Bringing Out the Dead, while also the screenplay for NYC alumni Brian De Palma’s cult classic Obsession. First Reformed is his latest effort as an artist devastating his white canvas in a slow, artistic, impact of torturous stoic emotional grievance and psychological abuse that haunts the screen hours after the fact.

Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Paul Schrader's The Canyons (2013) is showing July 14 - August 13, 2018 in the United Kingdom.Dyspeptic and sleazy and often as thick-headed as the selfish, solipsistic assholes around which its languid narrative unfurls, Paul Schrader’s The Canyons presents an unprecedented and unmitigated perspective on Hollywood’s toxic affluence, as judgmental as it is enamored of the iniquitous lives it depicts. It is a mess, certainly, but a fascinating, sometimes brilliant one, and necessary—a bizarre coalescence of influences and talents representative of and germane to the obsessions of its progenitors. Directed by Schrader and written by Bret Easton Ellis, the film has at its core a generational dichotomy, an insider’s sense of debasement filmed with a surveyor's inquisitiveness. (Few are as deft as Ellis at disemboweling the bilious lives of the Hollywood elite.) This tension between artists pervades the film,...

Throughout a long and diverse career Paul Schrader has penned scripts for iconic films such as Taxi Driver and The Last Temptation of Christ alongside directing crime classics Blue Collar and American Gigolo. But in more recent years, Schrader has faced the toughest period in his career. His newest trio of films The Canyons, The Dying of the Light and Dog Eat Dog, all received largely negative reviews and little box office return. First Reformed feels like a culmination of all Schrader’s best work and sees the renowned writer-director return to form in the most spectacular fashion.

Toller (Ethan Hawke), a former military chaplain, is minister of a Dutch Reformed church in upstate New York with an ever-dwindling congregation. The church itself has become more of a tourist attraction than a place of worship, having once given refuge to slaves navigating the Underground Railroad in the 19th century, Toller...

Chicago – Paul Schrader can absolutely claim the title of Cinema Icon with his 40 plus years of influence and involvement as writer or director in memorable films such as “Taxi Driver,” “American Gigolo,” “Raging Bull” and “Auto Focus.” His latest written-and-directed-by film is “First Reformed,” featuring Ethan Hawke.

“First Reformed” centers on Reverend Toller (Hawke), whose past includes a role as a military chaplain, and later as a father of a soldier who dies in battle. He ministers at a First Reformed Christian church, but the ministry is carried out mostly through historical tours (the church was a prominent stop for the Underground Railroad of the American Civil War era) and less through church membership. Toller’s life is altered when the wife (Amanda Seyfried) of a troubled environmentalist (Phillip Ettinger) seeks counseling for her husband. The results of that counsel upends all their lives, especially the minister who suddenly cannot face his own difficult circumstances.