Here’s an update on Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada.”
The filmmaker posted, via his Facebook, that rehearsals have begun on the film and added to the cast, which already includes Richard Gere, is Jacob Elordi (him again).
Last month, I had mentioned that Schrader’s film had been SAG-exempted and could start production. Back in May, Schrader told The New Yorker that, given these last few health-stricken years, he desperately wants to make, as he said, “one more” film.
Schrader’s ”Oh, Canada” will be an adaptation of his late friend Russell Banks’ 2021 novel “Foregone.” The parallels between the main protagonist’s life and Schrader’s own cannot be denied. This is said to be a very grim novel about a dying artist who comes to terms with his own life.
Schrader, who is turning 77 in July, has had his fair share of health problems these last few years. He filmed “The Master Gardener,” with an oxygen tank and, despite the illness, refused to go to a hospital during the last week of production. At the Venice premiere of the film, he cryptically stated that it would be his "last rodeo”.
Schrader’s 5-decade filmmaking career has been quite the journey. Not counting his own directorial efforts, he’s also written these incredible scripts for “Taxi Driver,” “Rolling Thunder,” “Raging Bull,” “The Last Temptation of Christ” and “Bringing Out the Dead.”
Schrader released “The Master Gardener” this past March, it completed his “loner man” trilogy which started with 2018’s “First Reformed” and 2021’s “The Card Counter.”