Filmmaker Paul Schrader, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival on Friday, has offered an update on his next project.
The “First Reformed” director’s most recent title, the Oscar Isaac-led “The Card Counter,” hit PVOD this past Friday following a limited theatrical run and good reviews.
Speaking with Variety, he revealed he plans to start filming the thriller “Master Gardener” in February with Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver onboard.
The film will deal with a horticulturist (Edgerton) torn between two women, one old enough to be his mother (Weaver) and the other young enough to be his daughter. Talking about the project he says:
“I was thinking about that guy, but then two women showed up. He is having romantic relations with both, but what I liked the most is that now, they can talk to each other. What would happen in ‘Taxi Driver’ if Cybill Shepherd and Jodie Foster went out to get coffee?”
That third role is to be played by a young woman of color and while Schrader wanted Zendaya, a deal couldn’t be worked out. That role hasn’t yet been set, but as Schrader said at the fest about filmmaking in general: “The biggest mistake you can make is casting. If you miscast a movie, there is nothing you can do.”
