
Paul Schrader
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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.
Known for
Credits

Dog Eat Dog (2016)
as El Greco

Venice 70: Future Reloaded (2013)
as Self (segment Paul Schrader)

Hollywood Mavericks (1990)
as Self

Sex at 24 Frames Per Second (2003)
as Self

Tales from the Script (2009)
as Self

Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light (2006)
as Self

A Decade Under the Influence (2003)
as Self

Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015)
as Self

Schrader's Exorcism (2008)
as Self

Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer (1990)
as Self

Ritratti di cinema (2025)
as Self

Milius (2013)
as Self

The Road to Bresson (1984)
as Self

Pictures of Europe (1990)
as Self

Godard Made in USA (2010)
as Self

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003)
as Self

We Blew It (2017)
as Self

Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic (2013)
as Self

Ken San (2016)
as Self

Making 'Taxi Driver' (1999)
as Self

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (2019)
as Self

Raging Bull: Before the Fight (2005)
as Self

Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business (2020)
as Self

Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004)
as Self

The Book of Harth (2022)
as Self
Cat People: An Intimate Portrait by Paul Schrader (2002)
as Self

God's Lonely Man (2007)
as Self

Taxi Driver: 40th Anniversary Cast Q&A (2016)
as Self

Eames: The Architect and the Painter (2011)
as Self

The Rules of Film Noir (2009)
as Self
Masterclass di Paul Schrader al Laceno d'Oro 48 (2025)
as Self - filmmaker, guest

Producing 'Taxi Driver' (2007)
as Himself

Talking with Ozu (1993)
as Self

Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005)
as Self

Murnau, Borzage and Fox (2008)
as Self

Untitled: New Blue (1995)
as Himself (uncredited)

Influence And Appreciation: A Martin Scorsese Tribute (2007)
as Self
Männer im Trenchcoat, Frauen im Pelz (2004)
as Self

Inside Mishima (1985)
as Self
Best Served Cold (—)
as Himself

Paul Schrader: Man in a Room (2020)
as Self

The Beauty of Horror: Paul Schrader on The Comfort of Strangers (2020)
as Self





