Paul Schrader
Known for: Writing
Born: July 22, 1946
Place of birth: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
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.
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Filmography
85 movies · 7 TV shows, newest first
NR
The Basics of Philosophy
2026
NR
Best Served Cold: How a Revenge Film was Buried for Decades
20266.0
Masterclass di Paul Schrader al Laceno d'Oro 48
2025
NR
Ritratti di cinema
2025
8.1
Mr. Scorsese
2025
6.3
Vulcanizadora
2025
5.7
Oh, Canada
2024
6.0
Master Gardener
2023
6.8
American Gigolo
2022
8.5
The Book of Harth
2022
7.0
The Last Movie Stars
2022
5.2
There Are No Saints
2022
6.1
The Card Counter
2021
NR
The Beauty of Horror: Paul Schrader on The Comfort of Strangers
2020
3.0
Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business
2020
6.0
Paul Schrader: Man in a Room
2020
6.7
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
2019
7.0
First Reformed
2018
5.2
We Blew It
2017
NR
Taxi Driver: 40th Anniversary Cast Q&A
2016
5.1
Dog Eat Dog
2016
6.7
Ken San
2016
5.0
American Johns
2015
7.2
Hitchcock/Truffaut
2015
6.2
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015
4.7
Dying of the Light
2014
5.1
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
5.0
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
4.4
The Canyons
2013
7.1
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
2013
7.1
Milius
2013
2.0
Walk of Fame
2012
7.0
Eames: The Architect and the Painter
2011
7.7
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
2011
NR
Godard Made in USA
2010
6.1
The Rules of Film Noir
2009
6.6
Tales from the Script
2009
7.0
Murnau, Borzage and Fox
2008
8.0
Schrader's Exorcism
2008
6.1
Adam Resurrected
2008
6.0
God's Lonely Man
2007
5.0
Influence And Appreciation: A Martin Scorsese Tribute
2007
5.0
Producing 'Taxi Driver'
2007
5.3
The Walker
2007
7.1
Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
2006
7.0
Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That
2005
5.3
Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist
2005
10.0
Raging Bull: Before the Fight
20059.0
Männer im Trenchcoat, Frauen im Pelz
2004
8.0
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
2004
5.3
Playboy: Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
2003
7.9
A Decade Under the Influence
2003
7.1
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
2003
6.4
Auto Focus
20028.0
Cat People: An Intimate Portrait by Paul Schrader
2002
6.6
Bringing Out the Dead
1999
5.3
Forever Mine
1999
7.0
Making 'Taxi Driver'
1999
6.3
Affliction
1998
6.0
Scene by Scene
1997
5.6
Touch
1997
6.0
City Hall
1996
4.7
Untitled: New Blue
1995
5.2
Witch Hunt
1994
6.5
Talking with Ozu
1993
6.7
Light Sleeper
1992
5.9
The Comfort of Strangers
1990
7.3
Hollywood Mavericks
1990
6.0
Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer
1990
NR
Pictures of Europe
1990
5.7
Patty Hearst
1988
7.2
The Last Temptation of Christ
1988
5.5
Light of Day
1987
6.4
The Mosquito Coast
1986
NR
Inside Mishima
1985
7.8
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
1985
7.0
The Road to Bresson
1984
6.0
Cat People
1982
7.9
Raging Bull
1980
6.2
American Gigolo
1980
5.1
Old Boyfriends
1979
6.8
Hardcore
1979
7.3
Blue Collar
1978
6.8
Rolling Thunder
1977
6.7
Obsession
1976
8.1
Taxi Driver
1976
7.1
The Yakuza
1974NR
Bait
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Non Compos Mentis
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Amber Light
—NR
Life from the Other Side
—NR
Three Guns at Dawn
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