Paul Schrader doesn’t want you to see his new film. Neither do stars Nicolas Cage and Anton Yelchin. Even executive producer Nicolas Winding Refn wants you to stay away. Why? One simple reason: It’s not “a Paul Schrader film.”
As Thompson On Hollywood reports, Schrader has worked on Dying Of The Light—a film about a CIA agent (Cage) on the cusp of both retirement and full-blown dementia—for years, but that doesn’t mean that the feature is a true “Paul Schrader movie.” Rumors of editing-room drama hit the wires last month, with Variety penning an in-depth story that paints a confusing and complicated story. Depending on whom you believe, the film was either taken away from Schrader by producers, who then made their own cut of it (the cut that will be released later this year), or Schrader quit the project after refusing to make his own edits based on a series of notes from those same producers. In any case, the final cut is not Schrader’s, and no matter how the film is advertised, it’s not a work that he feels compelled to stand behind. And now Cage, Yelchin, and Refn have joined the fight, standing quite firmly on the director’s side.
Schrader, Refn, Cage, and Yelchin can’t really talk about what’s happened—and how they feel about it—thanks to non-disparagement agreements that are typically part of creative contracts. But just because Schrader and company can’t directly disparage the project, they can still make their apparent displeasure known in other ways. Schrader, who has in recent years proven to be pretty savvy when it comes to social media (remember that Canyons Kickstarter? If nothing else, that thing got the movie made), took to his Facebook to explain:
“We lost the battle. Dying Of The Light, a film I wrote and directed, was taken away from me, reedited, scored and mixed without my input. Yesterday Grindstone (a division of Lionsgate) released the poster and the trailer. They are available on line. Here we are, Nick Cage, Anton Yelchin, Nic Refn and myself, wearing our ‘non-disparagement’ T shirts. The non-disparagement clause in an artist’s contract gives the owners of the film the right to sue the artist should the owner deem anything the artist has said about the film to be ‘derogatory.’ I have no comment on the film or others connected with the picture.”
And take a look at this stylish anti-poster:
Dying Of The Light is set for a December 4 release date. Let’s all make plans to (not) go to see the (not) Paul Schrader movie.