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The specter of death was all around Paul Schrader as he wrote and filmed \u201cOh Canada,\u201d starring Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi. The new film, being sold by Arclight Films at the European Film Market, centers around the last days of documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife and is based on the Russell Banks\u2019 novel \u201cForegone.\u201d Schrader was a longtime pal of Banks since Schrader directed the adaptation of Banks\u2019 acclaimed \u201cAffliction\u201d in 1989. Banks died in January 2023 as Schrader was working on the \u201cCanada\u201d screenplay. \u201cWe corresponded up to almost the end,\u201d says Schrader. \u201cMy health was bad too.\u201d He contracted COVID-19 and endured subsequent respiratory issues that led to hospitalization.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were all dealing with mortality issues as Leonard does in the film. You get to the point where you wonder how many bullets you have left in the gun,\u201d the veteran filmmaker says.<\/p>\n
Schrader and Banks\u2019 Fife is an enigmatic American who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War. He built a career working in nonfiction film while his entire life was built around a creation myth that is largely bullshit. \u201cFife is dying and realizing that his whole life has been built on lies and he is trying to confront himself before he dies,\u201d Schrader says.<\/p>\n
Schrader recently completed a trilogy of films focused on men battling themselves that have featured a series of understated yet explosive performances by actors of a certain age. (Ethan Hawke in 2017\u2019s \u201cFirst Reformed,\u201d Oscar Isaac in 2021\u2019s \u201cThe Card Counter\u201d and Joel Edgerton in 2022 \u201cMaster Gardener\u201d). In all three films, Schrader strips down their performances, excising any movie star tics to create middle-aged men on the verge of either a nervous breakdown or a breakthrough.<\/p>\n
While Schrader insists \u201cOh Canada\u201d is not part four in a series \u2014\u201cEverybody likes a trilogy, but after that people tune out,\u201d he jokes \u2014 but he did need an old hand who could turn in a quiet but intense performance. He nabbed longtime friend Richard Gere to play Fife, the two reuniting after more than 40 years since Gere\u2019s career-making Schrader collaboration on \u201cAmerican Gigolo.\u201d As he has done before, Schrader stripped Gere\u2019s performance down to the studs, resulting in Gere\u2019s most powerful performance in recent memory.<\/p>\n
Schrader is both an auteur but also realistic about filmmaking in the modern world. \u201cYou make a film like this you need great performances, but you also need some top-spin to grab interest,\u201d says Schrader. \u201cRichard and I working together gives the film top-spin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh Canada\u201d reveals itself in a series of flashbacks to Fife\u2019s twenties. Schrader knew that to make the film believable, he needed an actor with an equally quiet but charismatic persona. \u201cThe historic model was \u2018Gigolo\u2019 and finding someone with that kind of electricity,\u201d says Schrader. He found him in Australian Elordi.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say we planned it exactly, but Jacob plays the younger Fife with great skill and he also happened to explode while we were making the film,\u201d says Schrader. It\u2019s true, during and immediately after the fall of 2023 filming of \u201cOh Canada,\u201d Elordi popped as Elvis in \u201cPriscilla\u201d and his star turn in \u201cSaltburn\u201d became a hit. A few weeks after Schrader finished shooting, he looked up and there was Elordi hosting \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could not have got a better actor to play the younger Richard,\u201d says Schrader.<\/p>\n
While \u201cOh Canada\u201d might not have a happy ending, Schrader\u2019s own trajectory does at the moment. His health has improved markedly since last winter when he was finishing up the screenplay. \u201cI\u2019ve now made my film about confronting death,\u201d Schrader told me. \u201cI\u2019m now ready to move on to other things.\u201d<\/p>\n
View this article at Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Paul Schrader Confronts Mortality With Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi in \u2018Oh Canada\u2019: The specter of death was all around Paul Schrader as he wrote and filmed \u201cOh Canada,\u201d starring Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi. The new film, being sold by Arclight Films at the European Film Market, centers around the last days of documentary
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