Paul Schrader is back with a vengeance in the official trailer for “The Card Counter,” his feature directorial follow-up to “First Reformed.” Schrader’s latest finds Oscar Isaac sinking his teeth into the kind of tormented male protagonist role that Schrader has perfected in the likes of “Raging Bull,” “Taxi Driver,” and more. Anticipation for “The Card Counter” is high not only because of the cast (Isaac stars alongside Tiffany Haddish and Willem Dafoe, a Schrader regular with “Last Temptation of Christ” and “Dog Eat Dog) but also because Schrader is coming off his first screenwriting Oscar nomination for “First Reformed.”
In fact, this week’s IMDb page shows just how many awards are up for grabs as he heads toward an October 22 release date:
If it weren’t clear from these images, they’re pretty much perfect representations,” writes John Nelson Williams at Variety about those opening sequences featuring scenes filled by actors so obviously holding out hope against their own mortality! That will be difficult given what we’ve heard recently when Stephen King caught wind on Twitter asking why no one thought Darren Aronofsky had shot First Christmas correctly; then after seeing Zach Galifianakis’ short video showcasing two different versions based largely upon Jóhannsson’s vision was a surprise.
Paul Schrader is back furiously in the authority trailer for “The Card Counter,” his element executive development to “First Reformed.” Schrader’s most recent discovers Oscar Isaac diving into the sort of tortured male hero job that Schrader has idealized in any semblance of “Seething Bull,” “Cabbie,” and the sky’s the limit from there. The expectation for “The Card Counter” is high not just due to the cast (Isaac stars close by Tiffany Haddish and Willem Dafoe, a Schrader standard with “The Last Temptation of Christ” and “No nonsense) yet in addition on the grounds that Schrader is falling off his first screenwriting Oscar designation for “First Reformed.”