Paul Schrader is on a press tour to advertise Oh, Canadawhich means there’s plenty of great tidbits to be had from a man known for not cutting corners. (Just look at his Facebook.) Today’s stop was over vulturein which the director gave an in-depth interview discussing the collaborations with actors he has had throughout his career. Schrader specifically talks about Richard Gere, who he helped introduce to the world American gigolo in 1980 and who he meets again Oh, Canada.
When journalist Blige Ebiri asked about the difficulty older actors like Robert De Niro had finding good roles and settling for roles in “trashy films,” Schrader interjected to shift the blame to CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz . The full quote:
“You also had to deal with the devil. The devil’s name was Mike Ovitz. Mike had a plan. He would find something an actor or a client liked. Marty was good at canning. And someone else was painting. For Bobby it was real estate. Ovitz encouraged them, gave them pointers, gave them very good suggestions, and they did it, but then they needed money. What to do when you need money? You work for it. “Oh my God, I just got the movie for you. It’s not a great movie, but it’s a great paycheck.” That’s how Mike would entice these guys to do it. He tried to sign me, but I didn’t try.”
Schrader goes on to say that he doesn’t believe Ovitz could have found his “weak spot” and that he declined the agent’s invitations to sit with him at a Lakers game. De Niro briefly left CAA in 2008 and moved to rival agency WME, but returned to CAA in 2010. accordingly deadline. You can check out vultureYou can find the full interview here.
