Collected Screenplays 1: Taxi Driver / American Gigolo / Light Sleeper

by Paul Schrader, Christopher Hampton

Since the seventies Paul Schrader has been hailed as one of America's most gifted screenwriters. From his work with Martin Scorsese, such as The Last Temptation of Christ and Raging Bull, to the films of his own direction, such as Mishima and Affliction, Schrader has created a dark and affecting body of work that has had a profound effect on cinematic storytelling. The works in this volume represent some of his key moments as a writer and a director, including the script for what is perhaps his crowning achievement: Taxi Driver -- one of the most influential films of the seventies and an American classic.

Genres: Film

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 18, 2002

About the author

Although his name is often linked to that of the 'movie brat' generation (Spielberg, Scorsese, Coppola, Lucas, De Palma, etc.) Paul Schrader's background couldn't have been more different. Schrader's strict Calvinist parents refused to allow him to see a film until he was eighteen. Although he more than made up for lost time when studying at Calvin College, Columbia University and UCLA's graduate film program, his influences were far removed from those of his contemporaries - Bresson, Ozu and Dreyer (about whom he wrote a book, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu Bresson Dreyer Da Capo Paperback) rather than Saturday morning serials. After a period as a film critic (and protégé of Pauline Kael), he began writing screenplays, hitting the jackpot when he and his brother, Leonard Schrader (a Japanese expert), were paid the then-record sum of $325,000, for The Yakuza, thus establishing his reputation as one of Hollywood's top screenwriters - which was consolidated when Martin Scorsese filmed Schrader's script [Book:Taxi Driver] (1976), written in the early 1970s during a bout of drinking and depression. The success of the film allowed Schrader to start directing his own films, which have been notable for their willingness to take stylistic and thematic risks while still working squarely within the Hollywood system. The most original of his films (which he and many others regard as his best) was the Japanese co-production Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985).


Biography Source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001707/bio

Reviews

[G. Salter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimately, screenplays are blueprints for the films they become, so they never fully compare to the finished product. Even so, it's fascinating to see what a great screenplay can communicate, show what set the stage for the film.
This book collects three of Paul Schrader's most notable screenplays, ones with related themes and elements that show Schrader dealing with similar ideas in very different ways over 20 years of filmmaking.
A fascinating read for film buffs or filmmakers.

[Michael Medlen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always great to read another screenwriter's screenplay to understand their process. Paul Schraeder writes his screenplays in chapter formats without standards of typical Hollywood screenplays, most unusual but also a characteristic of how personal his relationship was with director Martin Scorsese...