Paul Schrader Quotes

Ultimately, it’s an illusion that you can understand yourself.

I don’t think it’s very useful to open wide the door for young artists; the ones who break down the door are more interesting.

People who act against their own best interests are interesting characters.

I could be just a writer very easily. I am not a writer. I am a screenwriter, which is half a filmmaker… But it is not an art form, because screenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to others to collaborate on a work of art.

One of the things that I do like about filmmaking is that you find out how to solve new problems.

You know, when you’re in your twenties you use a great deal of symbolism. You somehow think that a character standing beneath a cross is more interesting than a character standing underneath a billboard, but when you get a little older you realize that there’s not much difference.

I was raised as a Calvinist, which is doctrine-driven. And though there are many things wrong with Calvinism, you are at least encouraged to argue about things.

Those artists who say that somehow therapy or analysis will thwart their creativity are completely misinformed. It’s absolutely the opposite: it opens closed doors.

The secret of the creative life is to feel at ease with your own embarrassment.

The secret of the creative life is how to feel at ease with your own embarrassment. We’re all in the dirty laundry business and we’re being paid to take risks and look silly. Race car drivers get paid to risk their lives in a more concrete way; we get paid to risk our lives in an emotional way.

Don’t ever let the viewer settle in and get ahead of you.

I want to be happy; why do I do things that make me unhappy?

If you write interesting roles, you get interesting people to play them. If you write roles that are full of nuance and contradiction and have interesting dialog, actors are drawn to that.

I teach a course in screenwriting at Columbia, but I’ve never taken a course and I’ve never read a book about it!

There’s no escape. I’m God’s only man.

‘Taxi Driver’ wasn’t autobiographical in terms of the actual events, but I did draw on my own mental state.

Because many of the films I’ve made have had an intellectualedge, it’s harder for me to lie. It’s harder for me to go to peoplewith money and say I don’t care about art, all I care about iscommerce; all I really want to do is make money.

I still think like a critic, and I still analyze films like a critic. However, it’s not possible to write criticism if you’re making films.

There’s something wrong – the performance, the weather, the set design, the lighting. Something is not working. And so you say, “Give me 10 minutes.” When you’re first directing, you’re terrified. But when you’ve been in that situation enough times, you know that under pressure, it will come to you.

Let’s just shoot in black and white. Don’t explain why. Have no reason for it. Just do it because it’s interesting.

Anything that doesn’t bore me I think is doable because it’s keeping me awake.