Exclusive Interview with Paul Schrader on Dog Eat Dog and More
Staci Layne Wilson
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Hollywood legend Paul Schrader’s newest movie is based on a hardboiled Edward Bunker crime novel told from the criminal’s point of view. Dog Eat Dog takes the story of three recently-released convicts, each with two strikes, and brings a gritty, modern twist to it. When philosophical Troy (Nicolas Cage), hair-trigger Mad Dog (Willem Dafoe), and diplomatic Diesel (Christopher Matthew Cook) are engaged by a dangerously eccentric mob boss to kidnap a rival’s baby, things go awry. The trio find themselves on the run from not only the mob, but various street thugs and the cops. Desperate to stay alive and out of prison at all costs, the men must face down death the only way they know how: brains and guts. (Oh, and blood… there’s plenty of it spilled!)
We got the chance to sit down with Schrader on his press tour as the movie debuted at several of the fall festivals ahead of its release which is set for November.
Dread Central: I’m a big fan of Eddie Bunker’s books, and I loved the film adaptation of Straight Time, which starred Dustin Hoffman. Also, he was the screenwriter on Straight Time, Runaway Train and Animal Factory – so I’m sure you are a fan, too. How faithful would you say Dog Eat Dog is to the book, because… your film is set in contemporary times with cell phones and computers and all.
Paul Schrader: Well, Dog Eat Dog is not very faithful to that book, but Straight Time is. Bunker’s sensibilities were forged in the seventies and this novel was written in the nineties and now here it comes and I have to amend it. I wanted it to feel like a contemporary film, not like seventies or nineties so that is not the most faithful adaptation. It’s kind of an updating or rethinking of the Bunker film or book. I got into this because Nic Cage and I were looking for a way to redeem ourselves after an unpleasant experience on another movie we did, Dying of the Light, and then this script came along… but how do I make this fresh? I mean, after Scorsese, Tarantino, Richie, how do I make it feel fresh again?
DC: And so you chose a brand new screenwriter, Matthew Wilder.
PS: Yes. He had written this script, it was very long, very faithful to the book and I read that opening scene and said: Wow, I don’t even care what comes after this. Maybe this is what Nic and I were looking for, maybe this was our redemption and then I involved Matt in the making of the film, he plays a guy that Willem talks to in the beginning and then Matt and I became friends.
DC: This is a difficult question to word delicately, because I really am a Nic Cage fan, but… how do you keep him, as a director, from going over the top?
PS: Well, Nic Cage is an extremely well prepared actor. He wants you to believe he’s spontaneous but in fact he works out everything in advance. One of the best things you can do for Nic is put him in a situation and throw him off his feet… In this case, having Willem playing the high-energy role and having Nic play more or less the straight guy, it’s a great dynamic that keep both of them on their feet.
DC: I read that Dog Eat Dog is a lower budget than you or the actors are used to, so… how did it all work out?
PS: One of the problems of doing a Nic Cage film is that he takes most of your budget, so then you have to find somebody who will give him real competition but you don’t have much money so you go to a pro like Willem and even in that case, Nic had to give him a part of his salary so Willem’s pride was satisfied but it worked out really well because they’re two savvy people and you can see them clocking each other, making their moves.
DC: So is that why you cast yourself in a role?
PS: Yeah, I didn’t have the money to get another actor. I could have gotten a local actor but they just weren’t very interesting so I thought to myself well, I may be bad but at least I’ll be interesting so I got that big $900 check for three scenes.
DC: You were a holdout for a long time! Most directors love to give themselves at least a cameo.
PS: I never wanted to do it because I felt that if I did it I wouldn’t like myself and I’d cut myself out so why go through that? I remember an actor that was supposed to be in Taxi Driver got injured and I asked Marty, What are you going to do? And he said Well, I thought I’d play it. I begged and begged him not to do the part because he’d see himself on screen and cut himself out of the scene. Well, just the opposite happened. He saw himself onscreen, loved himself onscreen and played himself as long as he possibly could!
DC: What are your thoughts on all the classics – like Hannibal Lecter, and The Exorcist for example – being developed into TV series? Is that something you’d want to do with one of your own films someday?
PS: Well, I took some money several years ago so they would develop a series based on American Gigolo under the provision that I would not be involved. They would pay me for the rights but I could not be involved. I don’t know what they were buying, but they didn’t want me. I can’t say I’ve seen any of the shows you mentioned, [but] just the idea of it turns me off. I do watch a fair bit of TV but the idea of seeing a long form version of a movie doesn’t appeal. Now here’s something interesting: I did a movie a couple years ago on Patty Hearst and I struggled and struggled to get it in under two hours but I didn’t really succeed. So maybe a series of that could work, because that’s how the Hearst story should have been told in the first place.
Look for Dog Eat Dog in New York and Los Angeles on November 4, 2016 with a theatrical expansion and VOD release on November 11, 2016
Synopsis:
Legendary filmmaker Paul Schrader directs this “sordid and engaging crime drama” (The Hollywood Reporter) starring Academy Award® winner Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas) and Academy Award® nominee Willem Dafoe (Platoon). Ex-cons Troy (Cage), Mad Dog (Dafoe) and Diesel (Christopher Matthew Cook) are hired by an eccentric mob boss to kidnap a baby for a large ransom. When the abduction goes awry, the trio find themselves on the run from the mob and the cops. Vowing to stay out of prison at all costs, getting away with the crime is literally a matter of life and death.
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