The latest film from Paul Schrader, the new thriller, “The Card Counter,” finds itself in a similar position as many features from the last year. The film was greenlit and began production prior to the massive worldwide outbreak of COVID. And like many other features, “The Card Counter” found its production shut down due to the entire film industry taking a step back to deal with the pandemic. Even though the shutdown wasn’t ideal (Schrader had some choice words for it as it was happening), it did provide the filmmaker a chance to get some important feedback on his film before finishing it up months later.
Speaking to Indiewire, Schrader talked about the process of sharing his partially completed ‘Card Counter’ with some friends before finishing production later in the year. As the filmmaker explained, the delay provided him a chance to effectively have “reshoots,” which is unheard of on indie features.
READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021
“I edited the film and put in placeholders for the five or six scenes of consequence that I hadn’t shot,” he said. “I didn’t have a fully finished film but I could screen it for people. Normally you only get that privilege if you have a big-budget film and you’re allowed reshoots.”
One of the people that Schrader shared the film with was his “Taxi Driver” collaborator, Martin Scorsese. And when he asked Scorsese for advice, the director was able to help Schrader fix a crucial relationship in the film between characters played by Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Haddish.
“I asked Marty, ‘What am I missing?’” said Schrader. “He said to me that the relationship with Tiffany and Oscar was too thin. So I rewrote those scenes.”
Of course, Martin Scorsese isn’t just a friend of Schrader’s that offered his opinion about the film. The filmmakers are also collaborators on “The Card Counter,” with Scorsese signing on as Executive Producer. And Schrader explained why he approached Scorsese to help with his latest feature.
“I said, ‘Marty, wouldn’t it be nice to share a card again?’ I thought it would help sell the film but it would also be a cool thing to do after all these years,” Schrader said. “Then a couple of weeks later his agent called wanting to work out a deal. What deal? I asked Marty and he said yes. That’s the deal!”
Now, months after production began and the COVID-forced shutdown, Paul Schrader’s “The Card Counter” is finally set to have its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival. From there, the film will then debut in theaters on September 10 from Focus Features.