New Paul Schrader Film Master Gardener Casts Joel Edgerton And Sigourney Weaver

Paul Schrader is keeping busy. The filmmaker has his new movie "The Card Counter" due out very soon, and now he already has something else lined up. Schrader's next will be "Master Gardener," a film that will star Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver. Edgerton will play "the master gardener of an American estate who is forced to confront his dark past," which means we'll probably get lots of shots of him sitting in the dark drinking booze while providing bleak narration. I'm not complaining. 

What's next for Paul Schrader? It's a movie called "Master Gardner," which is either a cool title or a silly title depending on your frame of mind. The film will feature Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver, and while it will once again be a film about a man and his dark moods, the setting sounds a bit different for Schrader. Here's the synopsis: 

NARVEL ROTH (Edgerton) is the meticulous horticulturist of Gracewood Gardens. He is as much devoted to tending the grounds of this beautiful and historic estate, to pandering to his employer, the wealthy dowager MRS. HAVERHILL (Weaver). When MRS. HAVERHILL demands that he take on her wayward and troubled great-niece MAYA as a new apprentice chaos enters NARVEL'S spartan existence, unlocking dark secrets from a buried violent past that threaten them all.

First: love the name Narvel Roth. Second: this sounds somewhat gothic, which would be a neat change of pace for Schrader. "When the idea first started it was one of my male protagonists but then these two women intervened and it became something more complex and unique," the filmmaker said. HanWay Films will handle international sales and distribution following their collaboration with Schrader on "The Card Counter." 

HanWay Films MD Gabrielle Stewart added: 

"Paul Schrader is at the top of his form, and HanWay is excited to be collaborating again with one of film's greatest writer-directors. Master Gardener is the natural successor to the brilliant film The Card Counter which will have its world premiere tomorrow at the Venice Film Festival. Character-driven, sexy and surprising, with plenty of intrigue one would expect from a Schrader film."

Back in 2019, it was announced that Schrader would be following up his excellent "First Reformed" with a "Neo-Meta Western" remake of the film "Seven Men from Now." Willem Dafoe was supposedly going to appear in the film, which Schrader described as "a Western that plays out as if Terrence Malick and David Lynch came in and took a s*** on the script." Sounds good to me! However, we haven't heard much about that film since then. Is it completely dead at this point? Schrader has been trying to get this film made since the 1980s, so I doubt he's totally given up on it. For now, though, he'll be moving forward with "Master Gardner." 

As for "The Card Counter," that's due out on September 10, 2021.