
Paul Schrader
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.
48 acting credits · 28 directing credits
Acting · 48

Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014

Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015

The Story of Film: An Odyssey
2011

The Last Movie Stars
2022

Scene by Scene
1997

Mr. Scorsese
2025

Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
2004

Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
2003

Dog Eat Dog
2016

Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013

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

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
2019

Milius
2013

A Decade Under the Influence
2003

Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light
2006

Hitchcock/Truffaut
2015

Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
2013

Talking with Ozu
1993

Ken San
2016

Tales from the Script
2009

Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business
2020

Pictures of Europe
1990

Godard Made in USA
2010

Ritratti di cinema
2025
Männer im Trenchcoat, Frauen im Pelz
2004

Eames: The Architect and the Painter
2011

Influence And Appreciation: A Martin Scorsese Tribute
2007

Making 'Taxi Driver'
1999

We Blew It
2017

Raging Bull: Before the Fight
2005

Hollywood Mavericks
1990

Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That
2005
Best Served Cold
—

Murnau, Borzage and Fox
2008

Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer
1990

The Road to Bresson
1984

Paul Schrader: Man in a Room
2020

The Rules of Film Noir
2009

The Book of Harth
2022

The Beauty of Horror: Paul Schrader on The Comfort of Strangers
2020

Taxi Driver: 40th Anniversary Cast Q&A
2016

Schrader's Exorcism
2008

Inside Mishima
1985

God's Lonely Man
2007

Producing 'Taxi Driver'
2007
Cat People: An Intimate Portrait by Paul Schrader
2002
Masterclass di Paul Schrader al Laceno d'Oro 48
2025

Untitled: New Blue
1995
Directing · 28

Cat People
1982

Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist
2005

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
1985

The Card Counter
2021

American Gigolo
1980

First Reformed
2018

Oh, Canada
2024

Hardcore
1979

Affliction
1998

Dying of the Light
2014

Dog Eat Dog
2016

The Canyons
2013

Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013

Master Gardener
2023

Blue Collar
1978

The Comfort of Strangers
1990

Light Sleeper
1992

Auto Focus
2002

Forever Mine
1999

Light of Day
1987

Touch
1997

Adam Resurrected
2008

The Walker
2007

Witch Hunt
1994

Patty Hearst
1988
The Basics of Philosophy
—
Non Compos Mentis
—

Untitled: New Blue
1995