The Big Picture · Interview

Making ‘First Reformed,’ the Best Movie of the Year So Far, With Paul Schrader | The Big Picture (Ep. 66)

May 21, 2018/ 31 min/ Sean Fennessey

Sean Fennessey talks to Paul Schrader about First Reformed, the slow cinema that shaped it, and the career disaster that sent him back to the quiet movie he'd sworn off.

24 films across 1 segment.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

Paul Schrader on First Reformed

Paul Schrader on

First Reformed 2018

Ethan Hawke as Reverend Toller, a Schrader man consumed by ecological despair and a crisis of faith. Schrader chose the Ordet ending over the Diary of a Country Priest one.

Paul Schrader on

Taxi Driver 1976

Schrader's screenplay. His editor pointed out how much Travis Bickle had crept into First Reformed, calling it the 'obsessive glue' holding the borrowed religious influences together.

Paul Schrader on

Diary of a Country Priest 1951

Bresson. One of the withholding models Schrader reread; its priest-falls-out-of-frame ending was the one he almost used.

Paul Schrader on

Ordet 1955

Dreyer. Kent Jones nudged him toward its resurrection ending, a response to a miracle that's carnal rather than pious.

Paul Schrader on

Silent Light 2007

Carlos Reygadas. Cited among the newer slow-cinema films Schrader studied.

Paul Schrader on

Ida 2013

Paweł Pawlikowski's film about a nun; the conversation after Schrader gave Pawlikowski an award set him on the road to First Reformed.

Paul Schrader on

Dying of the Light 2014

Taken away from him and recut by others, the debacle that pushed him toward alcoholism and, later, insisting on final cut. He re-edited his own version as 'Dark,' which he says can't be shown.

Paul Schrader on

Dog Eat Dog 2016

The Nic Cage film where he first used final cut, a loud, outrageous experiment. First Reformed used that same freedom in reverse, staying quiet instead of cutting loose.