Paul Schrader: podcast appearances and interviews

Paul Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He is known for writing the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver and for his collaborations with Scorsese on films such as Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Bringing Out the Dead. Schrader has directed a total of 23 films, including Blue Collar, Hardcore, American Gigolo, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Light Sleeper, Affliction, and First Reformed. His work often explores themes of existential crisis and features stories about isolated, troubled men. Schrader's film First Reformed earned him his first Academy Award nomination. He was raised in a strict Calvinist family and attended Calvin College before studying film at UCLA, encouraged by critic Pauline Kael. Prior to his career in filmmaking, Schrader worked as a film scholar and critic, publishing the book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer in 1972. He transitioned to screenwriting in 1974, with the success of Taxi Driver bringing greater recognition. Schrader began directing his own films with Blue Collar, co-written with his brother Leonard Schrader. In recent years, he has described three of his films, First Reformed, The Card Counter, and Master Gardener, as forming a loose trilogy.