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Leonard Schrader (November 30, 1943 – November 2, 2006) was an American screenwriter and director, most notable for his ability to write Japanese-language films and for his many collaborations with his brother, Paul Schrader. He earned an Academy Awards nomination for the screenplay he wrote for the film Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Between 1969-73 Schrader escaped even further, slipping by night into the subculture of the Yamaguchi-gumi (the dominant Yakuza gangster organization in the Kansai area of Japan, which includes Kobe, Kyoto and Osaka), while by day teaching American Literature at Doshisha University and Kyoto University.
During his time in Japan he met his future wife, Chieko Schrader. They married in 1977.
His living family includes brother Paul Schrader, niece Molly, and nephew Sam.
Schrader's other screenplay credits include such popular Japanese-language films as Tora-san Dream of Spring (1979), The Man Who Stole the Sun (Japan's Best Film of the Year in 1980), and Shonben Rider (1983). In 1982, with wife Chieko Schrader, he co-wrote The Killing of America, a documentary tracing the origins of U.S. violence.
During this production, Leonard Schrader collaborated with New York experimental filmmaker, David Weisman. Schrader's background in Latin American literature and Weisman's experience with Brazil led them to develop Kiss of the Spider Woman together. Schrader's screenplay adaptation, based on the avant-garde novel by Argentina Manuel Puig, earned him an Academy Awards nomination in 1986. (It also earned William Hurt an Academy Award for Best Actor.)
Schrader met renowned Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima while living in Japan. For a decade after the author's ritual suicide in 1970, Schrader pursued the rights to Mishima's life, and working with his wife Chieko and brother Paul, he co-wrote the Japanese-language bio-pic executive-produced in 1984 by George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Paul Schrader.
Schrader made his directorial debut with Naked Tango (1991) for which he also wrote the screenplay (although previously he also directed the 1982's film The Killing of America, this is the first time he solely directed the film, as in The Killing of America, he co-directed with Sheldon Renan). Produced in Argentina, with the 1925 period 'look' overseen by Oscar-winning designer Milena Canonero, the independent film starred Vincent D'Onofrio, Mathilda May, Esai Morales, and the late Fernando Rey.
| 1974 | The Yakuza | ||||
| 1978 | Blue Collar | ||||
| 1979 | Old Boyfriends | ||||
| Tora-san's Dream of Spring | |||||
| The Man Who Stole the Sun | Japan's Best Film of the Year, 1980 | ||||
| 1982 | The Killing of America | Documentary film Co-directed with Sheldon Renan | |||
| 1985 | |||||
| 1987 | Kiss of the Spider Woman | Academy Awards-nominee | |||
| 1990 | Naked Tango |
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