Paul Schrder, the screenwriter of
Taxi Driver
and director of
American Gigolo
,
First Reformed
and last year’s Cannes-premiering
Oh, Canada
has faced legal accusations for allegedly sexually harassing his previous personal assistant, dismissing her when she refused to submit to his advances, and failing to honor an agreement designed to maintain confidentiality about the claims.

The previous assistant, referred to in legal papers as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against the filmmaker and his production firm recently. She is requesting a court order to uphold the agreement following Schrader’s statement that he was unable to fulfill it.

The specifics, which included a financial amount, were not revealed.

“This is a straightforward case of enforcing a settlement agreement,” wrote Gregory Chiarello, Doe’s attorney, in documents submitted with the breach-of-contract lawsuit.

Schrader’s attorney, Philip J Kessler, characterized the lawsuit as “desperate, opportunistic, and frivolous” and stated that numerous claims within it are either untrue or significantly misrepresentative.

“We completely reject the notion that there was ever any form of sexual relationship between Mr. Schrader and his ex-assistant, and we also refute the claim that Mr. Schrader attempted to engage in any type of sexual relation with his former assistant,” stated Kessler.

The legal action initiated in a New York courtroom unveiled claims that the private agreement between Doe, aged 26, and Schrader, who is 78 years old, was meant to remain secretive.

She alleges that the filmmaker confined her in his hotel room, forcibly held her arms, and kissed her without consent while they were promoting the film last year.
Oh, Canada
at the

The Cannes Film Festival from the previous year

.

A couple of days afterward, according to the lawsuit, Schrader contacted Doe multiple times via phone calls and sent her aggressive texts stating he was “in distress” and unable to prepare his luggage. Upon her arrival to assist, the suit claimed that Schrader greeted her at the hotel room entrance, clad only in an unbuttoned robe, by exposing himself.

Doe claims Schrader dismissed her last September following her repeated refusal of his advances. The lawsuit stated that shortly thereafter, he sent her an email where he expressed concern about potentially being seen as “another Harvey Weinstein” in her eyes.

Weinstein was found guilty of rape in Los Angeles in 2022 and is

waiting for a retrial on 15 April

In his rape case in New York.

The lawsuit states that Schrader accepted the settlement on February 5th but later reversed his decision following an illness and “soul searching.” In March, Schrader’s legal representatives communicated that he “could not live with the settlement,” according to the suit. However, Kessler contested this claim.

The deal they’re attempting to impose on Mr. Schrader essentially needed both sides to agree and put their signatures on it for it to become legally binding,” Kessler explained. “However, Mr. Schrader refused to sign it. The situation is really just that straightforward.

According to the lawsuit, Doe was employed by Schrader from 2021 to 2024. During this period, Kessler stated, she shared on social media that she greatly enjoyed her work and described Schrader as an exceptional mentor and “my guy.”

Last year, Schrader informed the Associated Press that he had created
Oh, Canada
— the movie Doe mentioned had taken him to Cannes — as he came to terms with his own mortality following multiple hospital stays due to long COVID.

In 2023, he criticized the Oscars for their attempts to appear “woke” through diversity initiatives and an increase in international voters. In 2021, following these events,

#MeToo

He criticized what he called “cancel culture,” stating to Deadline that it was “as contagious as the Delta virus.”

“If your friend remarks, ‘People are spreading awful lies about me,’ you hesitate to support them for fear of catching that same slander,” Schrader explained to the entertainment news source.