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Paul Schrader (born July 22, 1946 in Grand Rapids, MichiganPaul Schrader is a screenwriter and film director, renowned for his characters that fall into desperation while their world crumbles around them.

His influences include Robert Bresson, Yasujiro Ozu and Carl Dreyer, whose cross-cultural similarities he examined in (ISBN 0306803356) in 1972. Despite his credentials as a director, Schrader has received more recognition for his screenplays directed by others.

Schrader is married to the actress Mary Beth Hurt, and they have one child, a daughter.

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Schrader's early life was based on strict Calvinist principles. When he disobeyed his mother, she would stab him in the hand with a pin and say "You think that felt bad? Hell is like that, only every second and all over your ." Schrader did not see a film until he was 18 and could sneak away from home, and the first one he saw was The Nutty Professor which he hated.

After studying at Calvin College, he went on to Columbia University, AFI Conservatory where he received an M.F.A. degree in 1969, and UCLA's graduate film programme on the recommendation of Pauline Kael. Under Kael's mentoring he became a film critic, writing for , a film set in the Japanese crime world directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Mitchum. Although it flopped at the box office, it brought him to the attention of the new generation of Hollywood directors. In 1976 he wrote the screenplay of which was nominated for a 1976 Golden Globe Award and provided the acclaim and funding that enabled Schrader to direct (1978), which had been written by his brother Leonard Schrader. Starring Richard Pryor and Harvey Keitel, it was a story of car workers trying to get out of their rut through robbery and blackmail. The shooting, as Schrader recalls, was a nightmare because of the amount of tension between him and the actors. Reportedly, Yaphet Kotto broke a chair over Harvey Keitel's back, Richard Pryor pulled a gun on Schrader and would refuse to shoot more than three takes per scene. Schrader also states this is the only time he has broken down on a film set, and that it made him seriously reconsider his career.

Besides (1980) with Mardik Martin. Schrader was also involved in the early stages of the writing of Steven Spielberg's , but either the studio or Spielberg (even Schrader still doesn't know to this day) didn't like the religious overtones (the aliens were at one point going to be an explanation for religious phenomena) and opted for a somewhat lighter (1987); and an unconventional, visually inventive film about the kidnapping of Patty Hearst (1988). His 1990s work includes (1993), a sympathetic study of a drug dealer who, like the other people around him, is vying for a normal life;

In 2003 he made entertainment headlines after being fired from . The original director chosen had been John Frankenheimer who died in 2002 from a stroke due to complications after spinal surgery.

After the film was completed under Schrader's direction, the production company, Morgan Creek ProductionsWarner Brothers did not like the result and the entire film was re-shot, with Renny Harlin directing. It was released as , where discussions were held for a limited release in the UK before its release on DVD. The film saw a limited theatrical release in the U.S. as in mid-2005.

In addition, after a troubled post production on Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, Schrader had to make certain budget decisions in terms of finishing his film. To do that, he asked Angelo Badalamenti and American experimental metal band Dog Fashion Disco to contribute to the score for little or no money.