Paul Schrader Announces “The Basics of Philosophy” and Takes Stock of “Non Compos Mentis”

Paul Schrader has a busy few months ahead of him as he shares an update on two upcoming films.

The Oscar-nominated director revealed he is currently developing the new feature film The basics of philosophy as he prepares to begin filming Non Compos Mentis (Latin for “a sick mind”) in November.

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He told Screen Daily that he has completed an outline and plans to complete a draft within the next three months for The basics of philosophywhich is about an “intellectual university philosophy professor”, done in the style of his spiritual trilogy “Man in a Room”, First Reformation (2017), The Card Counter (2021) and Master Gardener (2022).

“I have to do a very quick rewrite on (Compositions), Schrader said. “I hope to have the new novel written before November and have another bullet in the gun ready to go.”

Schrader has already announced Non Compos Mentis at the Cannes Film Festival in May. “I wrote a film noir, like a kind of sexual obsession, called Non Compos Mentis “About the stupid things men do for love,” he revealed, noting that they haven’t yet found a cast but have already received the majority of the financing.

Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver in Master Gardener (2022). (Bonnie Marquette/Magnolia Pictures/Courtesy of the Everett Collection) — Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver in *Master Gardener* (2022). (Bonnie Marquette/Magnolia Pictures/Courtesy of the Everett Collection)

Joel Edgerton et Sigourney Weaver dans <em><button class= — Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver in *Master Gardener* (2022). (Bonnie Marquette/Magnolia Pictures/Courtesy of the Everett Collection)

The interview took place as Schrader was promoting his latest film Ah, Canada at the Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finding him with American Gigolo (1980) starring Richard Gere, the film also stars Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Victoria Hill, Penelope Mitchell, Kristine Froseth and Zach Shaffer.

Ah, Canada follows a terminally ill writer and filmmaker (Gere in the present, Elordi in flashbacks) who agrees to have his final will filmed by documentarians Malcolm (Imperioli) and Diana (Hill), years after fleeing to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War draft.

The film was shot last year under an interim SAG-AFTRA deal, and has since been acquired by Kino Lorber for a December release.

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