Paul Schrader made a comeback in a big way with First Reformed a couple of years ago, ending a drought that saw the Taxi Driver writer deliver a lot of crappy movies. Now that he’s got Hollywood’s attention again, Schrader is putting together a hell of a cast for his next movie, The Card Counter, which we already know will star Oscar Isaac.
Joining Isaac in the cast are Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe. This was confirmed by Schrader himself during an interview with Metrograph about the upcoming Criterion Channel doc about his career…
“But now, in another week, I’m gonna go back to work. I’ve written a new script and I’m making a new film. We’re cast and we’re financed. It’s an original script, very much in the style I like to do. Nice cast. Oscar Isaac is the main guy. Tye Sheridan and Tiffany Haddish. And Willem [Dafoe’s] in it too. I love Tiffany. I’ve never met her, but I was on the phone with her for an hour. She’s a firecracker. It’s like talking to a live-wire connection. She’s very funny and, of course, she makes you funny. When someone’s sharp, that makes you get sharp because you want to keep up. So that’s all good. In my films, I’ll sort of combine two worlds that seem to have nothing to do with each other. In the new one, it’s the world series of poker and Abu Ghraib.”
Damn, sounds like Schrader is a big Tiffany Haddish fan. I can dig that. She’s not the first person I would think of in a Schrader movie, but this could be an interesting match that pays off.
That cast should attract a lot of attention, perhaps even more than First Reformed got. But as for now, Schrader’s film has yet to find a home and the streaming networks like Netflix and Amazon have no interest…
“You know, ‘First Reformed’ was turned down at the script stage and at the finished stage by Amazon and Netflix,” Schrader said. “My new film was turned down by Amazon and Netflix. It’s not a question of, you know, ‘They’ll do anything.’ I’m still outside their system.”
The Card Counter will eventually find a home. It’s just a matter of when, where, and who is willing to make room for one of the great filmmakers to do his thing.
