Paul Schrader Talks Favorite Films He Directed & Why He Released The Director’s Cut Of ‘Dying Of The Light’ On Torrent Sites

In 2018, filmmaker Paul Schrader had a bit of a comeback year. After toiling around in much of the 21st century with films that were either not well received or flew completely under the radar, last year saw the writer-director release what many say might be his best film to date – “First Reformed.” Finding its way on many Best of 2018 lists, “First Reformed” shot Schrader back into the spotlight, and gave film fans even more opportunity to hear the filmmaker’s thoughts on the current state of cinema. Needless to say, he has some serious thoughts.

In a new interview with Vulture, Schrader goes through most of his career, detailing the ups and downs in a truly candid way. He talks about his favorite films, his most humiliating, and what he thinks about the new paradigm of distribution thanks to streaming platforms.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2018

But before we get to “First Reformed” and the current state of cinema, the legendary writer-director discusses which films in his illustrious IMDB stand out most. He doesn’t actually have one particular favorite, but many favorites, as he details.

“I have different favorites,” the filmmaker admitted. “My whole-life favorite, of course, is ‘First Reformed.’ But, ‘Mishima’ is the damnedest thing. The very fact that I made it, that it can exist, and that it’s still unique all these years later. ‘Affliction,’ I think, is almost a perfect adaptation of a book. I really nailed that book. Stylistically, I love ‘The Comfort of Strangers.’ And ‘Light Sleeper’s’ full of yearning, yearning, yearning.”

Two of his most recent films, “Dog Eat Dog” and “Dying of the Light,” also hold special places in his heart, but for completely different reasons. In fact, those two films will forever be linked in Schrader’s mind, but for perhaps not the best of reasons.

“I made ‘Dog Eat Dog’ to redeem myself from the humiliation of ‘Dying of the Light,’ which was taken away from me,” says Schrader. “Nic [Cage] and I disowned it, I subsequently did my own edit, put it on torrent, but it was a career killer. I thought I was gonna die. It was a personal film, a film I had written. I had set it up, and it was taken away by these assholes who didn’t love films anymore.”

READ MORE: Guillermo Del Toro & Edgar Wright’s 2018 Top 10 Films Includes ‘Roma,’ ‘Mandy,’ ‘First Reformed’ & More

He continued, “A new group of people had come into the business. In the past I had never needed final cut. Because you were dealing with people who liked movies. You had disagreements, you worked it out. Now you’re dealing with people who not only don’t like movies much, they don’t even go to them. They just have formulas.”

So, for those who have…acquired the director’s cut of “Dying of the Light,” we now know that the man behind the film, Schrader himself, is the reason it’s readily available for those who know how to download such things.

The filmmaker continues to talk about the modern idea of cinema, as he transitions into discussing the rise of Peak TV and streaming services. To him, everything is a film, even if it happens to be dozens of hours long and has episodic breaks.

“We don’t know what a movie is anymore. We don’t know how long it is, we don’t know where you see it, we don’t know how you monetize it. What if it’s a net series? That is half hours, or 15 minutes. What if it’s 115 minutes, you know? That’s still a movie, isn’t it? Yes it is. ‘Mad Men’ is a movie. It’s a 79-hour movie,” says Schrader.

READ MORE: Paul Schrader Wants To Work With Kevin Spacey & Says “There Are Crimes In Life But No Crimes In Art”

The director then turns his sights on Netflix and other streaming services. While he doesn’t outright trash them in any way, Schrader does discuss the reason he’s happy that Netflix passed on “First Reformed” when they were offered the chance to fund the film, and then distribute the film. The main reason for his distaste for the current Netflix model isn’t the quality of content, it’s the quantity of content offered.

He says, “…I’m very thankful that they didn’t [buy ‘First Reformed’] because I ended up with A24 who knew exactly how to handle such a film. It would have gotten lost in that vast cornucopia of streaming. If you decided to watch only Netflix, all the time, 24/7 you still wouldn’t see all of it.”

Now, many film fans have already seen “First Reformed,” either in its theatrical run, or recently on Digital or Blu-ray releases. And for those that have, the ending of the film is a bit of a debatable topic. Without delving too much into spoilers, it’s clear that Schrader left “First Reformed” on a more ambiguous note. But that doesn’t mean the director won’t give fans his idea of what happened at the end.

Schrader gives his explanation:

“Here’s my favorite explanation for the ending. So you have this man in the garden with the cup. No one is going to take that cup away from him. So he drinks it. And then he falls on all fours, and starts disgorging his stomach. And then God walks in the room. God, who had never talked to him over the course of the film. And God says, ‘Reverend Toller, would you like to see what Heaven looks like? I’m going to show you right now. Heaven looks like one long kiss.’ And that’s the last thing he sees.”

As mentioned, 2018 was a great year for the filmmaker. Let’s just hope that Schrader continues his good fortunes into 2019 and beyond.