Considering the kinds of movies he makes, one might expect Paul Schrader to be seething with anger, or at the least edgy, nervous or anxious. After all, he wrote the screenplays for "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "The Mosquito Coast," among others. And the films he's written and directed include "Hardcore," "Mishima" and "Patty Hearst."
The filmmaker's latest, "Light Sleeper," which will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, Jan. 24, is another examination of alienation in a world loaded with out-of-control circumstances.But during a recent telephone interview, Schrader was surprisingly soft-spoken. "I have this reputation of being somewhat strong-willed," he explained, "and it makes it a little hard for me to get job offers that require a team player. It's not that I'm opposed to it, it's just a matter of the nature of the game being played.
"I don't really think a vision is something that can be shared by a committee. A movie should have a vision, and the vision has to be unified. It can't be a vision dictated by market research."
Independent vision is, of course, what the Sundance Film Festival is all about, and Schrader said he is pleased his film is being showcased here.
"Light Sleeper" is about a 40-year-olddrug dealer (Willem Dafoe), but he doesn't deal to kids in back alleys. He rides a limo around Manhattan to meet clients in posh hotels and chic clubs.
He's on the verge of transition, however, as his boss (Susan Sarandon) has announced she will soon abandon this high-rolling operation and go straight, leaving him to wonder where that leaves him. Complicating things is an old girlfriend (Dana Delany) who has, reluctantly, come back into his life.
If you know Schrader's work, you know that union - and the drug dealer's future - are not likely to be bright and cheery.
"I researched `Light Sleeper' the hard way," Schrader says. "It's based on people I used to know, 10 years ago when I was part of that drug culture, when in fact it was sort of more the norm to be part of that culture, particularly in my business.
"Then years went by and I put that behind me, until about a year ago last October. I had a particularly vivid dream about this character and I realized that he wanted me to write about him. So I set about tracking him down, and I sort of updated my research by talking to him. So, this story is based on a real person.
"The boutique operation is nothing of my fabrication. And there are, in any big cosmopolitan city in the world, these operations."
Schrader said his movies are not meant to be taken strictly literally, and that in the case of "Light Sleeper," the drug-dealer acts as a metaphor for modern alienation. "You have a character who is in a kind of drug life but is not a drug addict. That makes him a sort of zombie in a way, a man who can't leave a certain ambiance but isn't part of it. He's displaced and anxious and looking for someplace to be. The glory days are over and where's the meaning? And if that's not a theme for the '90s, I don't know what the '90s are like.
"There's a bit of a parable about it all. Movies are not documentary and even the most documentary of movies are still not documentary. So you kind of tell parables that are rooted in real characters and real situations. One of the things you try to do is find those characters inside yourself, and also speak to the times in which you live."
Schrader says he feels fortunate to have Dafoe and Sarandon as the stars of his film, considering its low budget. "The film could only be made because of a substantial cutting back on their salaries, and both of them immediately ran off and did bigger-budget pictures that gave them bigger salaries."
Two of his stars, Dafoe and Delany, will join him at the premiere of "Light Sleeper," flying in at their own expense. "It's that kind of film."
Schrader says that like everyone, he has changed over the past decade - he is married to actress Mary Beth Hurt (who has a small role in "Light Sleeper") and has children. But he doesn't feel it's changed his art. "The process of aging, becoming a family person, changes your priorities, and that's true for everyone. It takes longer to write now. There are a number of other obligations for your time."
Unlike many moviemakers, who say they don't see that many other movies, Schrader, who was once a film critic, says, "I see pretty much everything.
"But I'm not one of those people who say movies are worse than ever. The majority of movies are bad, but they've always been so. The majority of books are bad. The majority of paintings are bad. The majority of music is bad. The majority of film criticism - of journalism - is bad.
"There are some tendencies in the film business that cause concern, but there always are. One year they're making too many violent movies, another year they're making too many for kids and another year they're too long. So, in the midst of that whole hurly-burly of film commerce, it's amazing the number of serious, quality films that get made every year."
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
For festival information, phone 328-FILM (3456); for ticket information, phone 322-1700. All theaters are in Park City except the Tower, which is in Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Screening Room, at the Sundance Resort in Provo Canyon.WEDNESDAY
Egyptian: "A Brief History of Time" 10 a.m.; "Shorts Program III: Women Directors" 1 p.m.; "In the Soup" 4 p.m.
Holiday I: "Asylum" 10 a.m.; "In Search of Our Fathers" 1 p.m.; "Desperate" 4 p.m.; "Finding Christa" 7 p.m.; "Innocents Abroad" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "Lolita" 10:15 a.m.; "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm" 1:15 p.m.; "Clearcut" 4:15 p.m.; "Poison Ivy" 7:15 p.m.; "Venus Peter" 10:15 p.m. Holiday III: "Some Divine Wind" 10:30 a.m.; "Color Adjustment" 11:30 p.m.; "Rock Soup" 4:30 p.m.; "Jumpin at the Boneyard" 7:30 p.m.; "Black and White" 10:30 p.m.
Prospector: "Fool's Fire" 9:30 a.m.; "Art and Film" noon; "Danzon" 3 p.m.; "Fathers and Sons" 6 p.m.; "Storyville" 9 p.m.
Sundance: "Proof" 7:30 p.m.THURSDAY
Egyptian: "Jo-Jo at the Gate of Lions" 10 a.m.; "The Living End" 1 p.m.; "Gas, Food, Lodging" 4 p.m.; "Piper-Heidsieck Tribute" 7 p.m.; "Night on Earth" 10 p.m.
Holiday I: "Finding Christa" 10 a.m.; "Intimate Stranger" 1 p.m.; "Shoot for the Contents" 4 p.m.; "Brother's Keeper" 7 p.m.; "Where Are We?" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "Paths of Glory" 10:15 a.m.; "The Last Harvest" 1:15 p.m.; "Shorts Program II" 4:15 p.m.; "The Waterdance" 7:15 p.m.; "The Tune" 10:15 p.m.
Holiday III: "Techqua Ikachi" 10:30 a.m.; "Zebrahead" 1:30 p.m.; "Johnny Suede" 4:30 p.m.; "Last Images of War" 7:30 p.m.; "Hallelujah Anyhow" 10:30 p.m.
Prospector: "Storyville" 9:30 a.m.; "Black Documentary Cinema" noon; "Edward II" 3 p.m.; "Swoon" 6 p.m.; "Star Time" 9 p.m.
Sundance: "Fathers and Sons" 7:30 p.m.
Tower: "Reservoir Dogs" 6 p.m.; "Hear My Song" 8:30 p.m.
ENTERTAINMENT