If you’ve been following our Paul Schrader updates over the last several months, you know we’ve been keeping an eye on the upcoming film “The Card Counter.” While nothing has officially been announced, the legendary filmmaker has been dropping hints and teases on his Facebook for a while now about his follow-up film to 2018’s “First Reformed.” And now, with the official announcement, we now have all the details about what we can expect from Schrader’s next project.
READ MORE: Paul Schrader Confirms Oscar Isaac, Willem Dafoe & Tiffany Haddish For New Poker Drama
As we already knew, “The Card Counter” is written and directed by Schrader and stars Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe. But the biggest news about the film is that the new film will mark the fifth collaboration between Schrader and his friend Martin Scorsese, who is now an executive producer on the project. As you likely know, the duo previously worked together on films such as “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “The Last Temptation of Christ,” and “Bringing Out the Dead.”
Schrader said, “Scorsese and I liked the symmetry of it, the reflection of a long association and mutual love of hand made films.”
Here’s the official synopsis for “The Card Counter”:
Tell (Isaac) just wants to play cards. His spartan existence on the casino trail is shattered when he is approached by Cirk (Sheridan), a vulnerable and angry young man seeking help to execute his plan for revenge on a military colonel (Dafoe). Tell sees a chance at redemption through his relationship with Cirk. Gaining backing from mysterious gambling financier La Linda (Haddish), Tell takes Cirk with him on the road, going from casino to casino until the unlikely trio set their sights on winning a World Series of poker tournament. But keeping Cirk on the straight-and-narrow proves impossible, dragging Tell back into the darkness of his past.
READ MORE: Paul Schrader Chooses His Own ‘First Reformed’ As The Best Film Of The Past Decade
There’s no word on when we might see “The Card Counter” in theaters. The film is currently on the hunt for distribution, although with a cast and crew like this, it won’t be much of a problem.