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Author Topic: Paul Schrader  (Read 12805 times)

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lamas

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Paul Schrader
« Reply #30 on: March 23, 2004, 09:30:02 PM »
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grand theft sparrow

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Paul Schrader
« Reply #31 on: March 23, 2004, 09:48:20 PM »
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Damn, it's a good day.  First no more Valenti and now we get Schrader's Exorcist back.  What did we do to deserve this?
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godardian

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« Reply #32 on: March 23, 2004, 10:29:58 PM »
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Quote from: hacksparrow
Damn, it's a good day.  First no more Valenti and now we get Schrader's Exorcist back.  What did we do to deserve this?


To top it all off, there are those excellent anti-Mel Gibson Schrader quotes in The Guardian today, which you can read in the Passion thread... (MacG posted 'em)
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""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

SoNowThen

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Paul Schrader
« Reply #33 on: March 24, 2004, 09:21:09 AM »
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I wouldn't go so far as to paint them "anti", he was citing differences...



Anyway, to get his cut would be... man oh man.... this is a good thing. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Best case scenario is that everyone can see how much better his cut would've been, than the shit the studio will eventually throw out there (yes, I can see into the future).
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Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

godardian

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« Reply #34 on: March 24, 2004, 10:16:08 AM »
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Quote from: SoNowThen
I wouldn't go so far as to paint them "anti", he was citing differences...



Anyway, to get his cut would be... man oh man.... this is a good thing. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Best case scenario is that everyone can see how much better his cut would've been, than the shit the studio will eventually throw out there (yes, I can see into the future).


I don't think it's going too far to say that Schrader (politely) trashed Gibson's conception of the crucifixion... Sorry, a Paul Schrader (dignity, intelligence, passion, cinema-as-art) on one hand vs. Mel Gibson (crassness, backwardness, cinema-as-bombastic-effusion) is too irresistible a dichotomy for me to pass up.
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""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

soixante

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Paul Schrader
« Reply #35 on: March 24, 2004, 11:57:02 AM »
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I'm a huge Schrader fan, but I don't care about the Exorcist prequel.  The first Exorcist was great, but doing a prequel is not a good idea (example:  Phantom Menace).  Schrader's last excursion into horror, Cat People, was my least favorite of his films.  He's at his best dealing with fallible human beings wrestling with moral issues -- Affliction, Auto Focus, American Gigolo, Hardcore, Blue Collar.  I am definitely not a fan of horror films, so I think Schrader should go back to making films like Affliction.
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MacGuffin

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« Reply #36 on: May 26, 2005, 01:58:12 PM »
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Even though Paul Schrader came up in the 70’s with filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and many more, due to his not being allowed to see a film until he was well into his teens, he is not considered one of their generation of “movie brats.” That outsider status has allowed him to create his own niche in directing with such films as Light Sleeper, Affliction and American Gigolo.

Over the years Schrader has flirted with the mainstream mostly with screenplays such as Raging Bull and The Mosquito Coast. After the critical success of Auto Focus, Schrader decided to again work within the studio system and direct the Exorcist prequel, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.

After finishing his movie Morgan Creek, the production company, decided to not release it and make the movie again with [The Adventures of Ford Fairlane director] Renny Harlin. After that movie tanked both Morgan Creek and Schrader saw the chance to get his version out there.

Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist is a wild film that tackles many of Schrader’s prominent themes such as religion, violence and death. It stars Stellan Skarsgård as Father Lankester Merrin and his first encounter with the devil in Africa.

Daniel Robert Epstein: The situation that happened with the release of the Exorcist prequel is unique.

Paul Schrader: Yeah but it would be a much better story if it happened to someone else.

DRE: [laughs] Are you a magnet for this sort of thing?

PS: Well I don’t know. Every film has its horror tales. Some are just more unique than others and this really was unique. It was the first one.

DRE: How do you feel about it finally getting out?

PS: The dominant feeling is really just one of relief. Once you’ve made a film that has been discarded you cannot convince anyone that it was any good. You spend the rest of your life trying to explain what you had done. I just dreaded doing that. So more than anything else it feels like a millstone has been removed from my neck.

DRE: Is this any kind of admission of guilt from a Hollywood studio?

PS: No I don’t think so. This would not happen at a studio per say. This was from a one man company, Jim Robinson at Morgan Creek International. When you have a studio you have a system of checks and balances and a board of executives. So if one person says, let’s remake a whole thing, another person would say, if you do that I’ll be here to take your job when you’re finished.

Whereas with a one man company, he’ll just reach into his other pocket and pull out another $40 million to make it again. I think that Jim feels that he made the right decision once he was stuck there. I think that he feels we should have never gotten into this whole situation in the first place three or four years ago.

So the decision to release my film is not an admission of having made a mistake but it is simply a way to make money.

DRE: It’s always that way.

PS: I would have been foolish to appeal to anyone’s altruism or artistic sensibilities. My goal last year to try to create an environment where there was a financial incentive to release the film and the DVD.

DRE: When you do studio work it’s usually in terms of a screenplay or a contribution to a screenplay.

PS: It was really for Morgan Creek who has a deal with Warner Bros. They do higher budget films but Warner Bros has no say in the films they do. Warner Bros doesn’t pay one penny at any point in the process, they just take a distribution fee.

DRE: I could not think of a more polar opposite of a filmmaker to you than Renny Harlin. Have you ever seen a Renny Harlin film?

PS: Oh yeah, I’ve met Renny and in fact we almost did something together a few years ago. But Mario Kassar’s company Carolco went under and it never got done.

DRE: Did you see Renny Harlin’s version of the Exorcist prequel?

PS: Yes. It was interesting because I went down to Bethesda and saw it with William Blatty [writer of the original Exorcist novel and screenplay]. We watched it together on opening day. He had directed The Exorcist III which was taken from him, another ending was added and his original version was lost. He still had a lot of sore feelings about. As Renny’s film progressed he was getting more and more upset because it was all coming back to him. Whereas I was sitting next to him feeling better and better because as I watched Renny’s film I realized how bad it was. I figured if it got any worse there might be curiosity about the film that I made. When the Linda Blair makeup showed up it did get worse and so I figured there was a way to bring my film back from the dead.

DRE: You started your film career during a time when William Friedkin was huge so you must have met him.

PS: My goal when I came to this film was to stay as far away from Friedkin and Friedkin’s Exorcist as possible. I didn’t think you could compete with it because it is such a classic and icon in film history so if you try to compete with it you will lose. I tried to make a film that looked different, felt different and works different. The fact that it was set in the 40’s enabled me to create a film that felt more old fashioned.

DRE: That’s interesting because you aren’t known for doing that. Were you trying to do a noir?

PS: No I was trying to do a western. I had that landscape, the military outpost and the natives. I had Shane there who had given up the cloth then the bad guy comes into town and Shane has to put his guns back on [laughs].

DRE: As someone who was once a film critic, how do you feel the Exorcist prequel fits in with your other work?

PS: I guess one of the reasons I wanted it to come out was to let history judge that.

DRE: Has this sent you back to wanting to do films independently again?

PS: Basically I do films anyway I can. I was presented with the Exorcist script when they were already in preproduction. From the time I read the script until the time I started shooting was only three months. So one of the great attractions of it was that it was a go picture, it was classy and it had done right then. I did not conceive of the idea for this script, I don’t think it’s the kind of idea I could have come up with. Maybe in retrospect if it hadn’t been so tempting and so immediate I might not have done it. It was just an irresistible temptation.

DRE: I got to speak to Willem Dafoe in the past year and since he starred in the film you wrote, The Last Temptation of Christ so he always gets asked if he has seen The Passion of the Christ. Have you seen it?

PS: Yeah, in fact Mel [Gibson] was shooting that right across from us In Cinecitta when we were shooting the Exorcist prequel. Occasionally our devil and their Jesus would cross paths.

DRE: What did you think of that film?

PS: I thought it was medieval. It was quite extraordinary for what it is but I don’t particularly care for that notion of Christianity. That medieval notion of blood. Mel says he doesn’t like Sebastian 2 but I think he has a problem with the enlightenment. It is a kind of 14th century movie.

DRE: I read that next you are working again with [City Hall director] Harold Becker on Torch.

PS: I did that script and that was supposed to be for Pacino. But it’s already gone away.

DRE: What are you working on then?

PS: I’m working on something but I’m going to keep it to myself.

DRE: The term Auto Focus has become some synonymous with a sex party. On Curb Your Enthusiasm Larry David used it as a term when he and friend were going to look for women. He called it an Auto Focus party.

PS: [laughs] I like that film a lot and I’m very happy with it.

DRE: Do you think you would do another biopic in the future?

PS: I don’t think I would come up with one. But then on the other hand if someone offered it to me I would consider it.

DRE: You’ve had so many great collaborations with Martin Scorsese and recently he’s been working with screenwriters half your age.

PS: That’s the way it is in this business. You eat your young.

DRE: Have you and he talked about doing something else?

PS: I don’t think so. I think that collaboration has run its course.

DRE: Did the collaboration run its course naturally?

PS: I felt it ran its course after The Last Temptation of Christ then Marty asked me to write Bringing out the Dead. That didn’t do that well commercially so I would be surprised if we worked together again.

DRE: What do you do when you’re not making films? What’s a Paul Schrader day like?

PS: As I’ve gotten older I’ve been watching less and less television and reading a lot more.

DRE: What are you reading?

PS: I just finished the new Ian McEwan [Saturday] and now I’m reading the novel Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr.

DRE: When you are reading does it come into your mind that you might want to make the book into a movie?

PS: I just read for curiosity.

DRE: Is it tough to be curious when you reach a certain age?

PS: That’s a great blessing to be eternally curious about how things work and why people do things, including yourself.

DRE: Do you have any tattoos?

PS: No I don’t.

DRE: If you ever got a tattoo, what would it be?

PS: I don’t think I would ever get one. Unless I tattooed on my forehead in reverse “Go back to bed.” I could get up in the morning, look in the mirror and have a reason to turn around [laughs].
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“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol


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soixante

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« Reply #37 on: May 27, 2005, 02:47:53 AM »
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Schrader has a unique take on things.  I can't think of any other major filmmaker who studied theology before getting into film.
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bonanzataz

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« Reply #38 on: May 27, 2005, 03:37:49 AM »
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Quote from: MacGuffin
PS: Oh yeah, I’ve met Renny and in fact we almost did something together a few years ago. But Mario Kassar’s company Carolco went under and it never got done.


yeah, cuz renny harlin's 'cutthroat island' bankrupt that studio. dirty mutha fucka, tryin' to shut down little companies.
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The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil’s rain we’ll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, ’cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, ’cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put ’em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put ’em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

Pubrick

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Paul Schrader
« Reply #39 on: May 28, 2005, 08:44:54 AM »
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Quote from: soixante
I can't think of any other major filmmaker who studied theology before getting into film.

malick. studied and taught.
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Thebirdinsectman

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hardcore...
« Reply #40 on: June 07, 2005, 02:10:13 AM »
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What'd anyone think of 'hardcore'...i think it's underrated in terms of craft. it's pretty thoughtful and fresh, i thought...
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whip it good.

soixante

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Re: hardcore...
« Reply #41 on: June 07, 2005, 01:56:52 PM »
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Quote from: Thebirdinsectman
What'd anyone think of 'hardcore'...i think it's underrated in terms of craft. it's pretty thoughtful and fresh, i thought...


Loved it.
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MacGuffin

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Paul Schrader
« Reply #42 on: September 13, 2005, 12:09:52 AM »
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Bleiberg taps Schrader for 'Adam' helm

Ehud Bleiberg has signed on Paul Schrader to direct "Adam Resurrected," the first film for Bleiberg's new production and sales company that was announced last month. The film, based on a novel by Yoram Kaniuk, was one of the titles Bleiberg took with him when he split from Dream Entertainment, the company he co-founded with Yitzhak Ginsberg. "I have long admired Paul's work and am thrilled that he has agreed to direct this film," Bleiberg said. "We have a complex script that is compassionate, tragic and inspiring at the same time, and we are pleased that Paul will bring his immense artistic abilities to our film."
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“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” - Andy Warhol


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SoNowThen

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Re: Paul Schrader
« Reply #43 on: November 16, 2005, 02:22:25 AM »
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So I blind bought Dominion and finally cracked it open the other day.

I'm a BIG fan of Paul Schrader, and a major defender of almost all of his work, even the obviously shitty stuff. I find it's better to have a guy like Schrader making bad movies than not making them at all.

However... this was easily -- mark that ABSOLUTELY SURELY -- the FUCKING WORST movie I have ever seen. Not just a low for Schrader, but a low for movies, period. I actually don't think it's possible that the Harlin version could be any worse than this. Possibly just as bad, but not worse. The acting in this movie makes my short films look like Cassavetes. I'm pretty sure that Storaro didn't shoot this either, I think it was his Mexican equivalent. Funny thing is, I looked at some of the deleted scenes, and at low resolution, before they were cleaned up, it looked pretty good. So maybe whoever made the dvd just boosted and flattened whatever my favorite DP actually lit. Who knows. All I can say is that all involved better distance themselves as much as possible from this damnable piece of garbage. Can't believe Paul fought for this one to see the light... the studio tried to do him a favor...
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Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

cron

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Re: Paul Schrader
« Reply #44 on: November 16, 2005, 09:28:42 PM »
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Quote from: SoNowThen on November 16, 2005, 02:22:25 AM
I'm pretty sure that Storaro didn't shoot this either, I think it was his Mexican equivalent.

rodrigo prieto?
emmanuel lubezki?

just saying.
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context, context, context.
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