“Cat People” Paul Schrader aspires to collaborate with foreign artists

"Cat People" synopsis

Irina comes to the ancient city of New Orleans to visit her brother Paul. On that night, a black panther attacks a prostitute in the city and is captured by the zoo. The black panther's true identity is Paul. The brother and sister have the blood of Cat People who transform into leopards when they fall in love with a human, and are burdened with the cursed fate of being unable to return to their original forms unless they devour the other person. Irina is attracted to Oliver, the zoo director, but this insignificant First Love soon turns into desire, and a terrible tragedy begins.

Index

• A genius in modern American cinema
• Visual advisor who can decide on costumes, makeup, and even camera angles
• Paul Schrader, a lover of Europe and Japan
• Relationship with Nastassja Kinski

A genius in modern American cinema

The exhibition " Eiko Ishioka: Can Blood, Sweat, and Tears Design? " was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (November 14, 2020 - February 14, 2021). This is a major retrospective exhibition of a great art director/designer who achieved the feat of winning the Academy Award and Grammy Award, which are considered the pinnacle of entertainment, but whose activities are still unknown to only a few people in Japan. . It is said that this will probably be the first and last time it will be implemented on a large scale due to the complex rights involved.

There were several major turning points in his career that continued to produce an impressive body of work, but one of the most important was Mishima – A , which depicts the life of Yukio Mishima, which has a large booth at the venue. This may be his participation in the production design (art) of ``Life in Four Chapters '' (1985). Although it was his first time participating in a film, and it was a Hollywood film, which was an extremely difficult challenge, he achieved an incredible result by winning the Artistic Contribution Award at the Cannes Film Festival. This project made her famous all over the world, and she has since embarked on a long journey of collaborating with artists around the world.

“Mishima – A Life in Four Chapters” preview

Producer Tom Ruddy and director Paul Schrader were the ones who selected her, even though she was a complete film novice. In particular, the director placed the utmost importance on production design, giving her as much authority as himself and cinematographer John Bayley. There were also troubles with the Toho studio staff, who had to work under the direction of the art director, who had no film experience, and the filming seemed to be a constant state of tension. However, Paul Schrader was the person who had the greatest understanding of Eiko Ishioka, and was said to have protected her at all times.

Paul Schrader has made a name for himself as the screenwriter for Martin Scorsese's `` Taxi Driver '' (1976) and `` Raging Bull '' (1980), but in his own directorial works he often uses challenging staffing techniques. In fact, this was not the first time that a foreign art director had been appointed as the top creative director.

He was an admirer of Italian master director Bernardo Bertolucci, and when he was making `` American Gigolo '' (1980), he invited Ferdinando Scarfiotti, the art director of Bertolucci's group, from Italy to help him develop his style as a visual language. I relied entirely on the production. His next film, ``Cat People'' (1982), produced by the same production team, established a method of proceeding based on a special relationship of trust with the art director.

The sequel to Cat People was set in Japan. Therefore, Paul Schrader appointed Eiko Ishioka, a graphic designer who was not originally from an English-speaking world and was the first art director of a video work. If you think about it that way, you could say that this work, ``Cat People,'' was an indispensable and important piece on the eve of the birth of ``art director Eiko Ishioka.''

Visual advisor who can decide on costumes, makeup, and even camera angles