Taxi Driver filmmaker Paul Schrader, 78, accused of sexual assault by ex-assistant
Schrader denies allegation he fired his employee when she rejected his advances.
Hollywood filmmaker Paul Schrader has been accused of sexually assaulting his former personal assistant and then reneging on a settlement that was designed to keep the allegations confidential.
His ex-assistant, who filed a lawsuit to sue writer and director Schrader and his company on Thursday in New York, also claimed that he had fired her when she wouldn’t submit to his advances last year.
The 26-year-old woman, identified in court documents as ‘Jane Doe’, is seeking a judge’s order to enforce the agreement after Schrader – who is best known for writing Taxi Driver for Martin Scorsese and directing American Gigolo starring Richard Gere – said he couldn’t go through with it.
No terms of said agreement – including any monetary compensation – have been disclosed.
Doe’s lawyer Gregory Chiarello described the case as ‘an open-and-shut settlement enforcement matter’ in court papers accompanying his client’s breach of contract claim, according to AP.
In return, Schrader’s lawyer, Philip J. Kessler, has called the lawsuit ‘desperate, opportunistic and frivolous’ and said many of the allegations within it are false or materially misleading.
Schrader, who collaborated with Martin Scorsese (pictured) on the likes of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, denies the allegations (Picture: Kristina Bumphrey/StarPix/Shutterstock)‘We absolutely deny that there was ever a sexual relationship of any kind between Mr Schrader and his former assistant, and we deny that Mr Schrader ever made an attempt to have a sexual relationship of any kind with his former assistant,’ Kessler added.
The lawsuit’s claims include the allegation that Schrader, 78, trapped Doe in his hotel room, where he grabbed her arms and kissed her against her will while they were promoting his most recent film, Oh, Canada, at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024.
Two days later, Doe, who started working for the director in 2021, returned to Schrader’s hotel room after he allegedly sent her angry texts saying he couldn’t pack his bags and was ‘dying’.
When she arrived, the lawsuit claims that Schrader exposed his genitals to her as he opened the hotel room door dressed in only a bathrobe – which was open.
The filmmaker is accused of flashing his penis at, and attempting to kiss, his ex-assistant during the Cannes film festival in May when he was promoting Oh, Canada(Picture: Getty)Doe then alleges she was fired in September after rejecting his advances yet again, with Schrader later sending her an email where she claims he shared his fears that he was now ‘a Harvey Weinstein’ in her mind.
According to the lawsuit, Schrader agreed to the settlement on February 5 before changing his mind after an illness and ‘soul searching’.
He is then said to have communicated through his lawyers that he ‘could not live’ with the lawsuit, but Kessler denies this and instead claims that his client never actually signed the agreement, which would have ‘required both parties to sign it before it became legally effective’, and therefore enforceable.
Schrader kicked off his career in Hollywood after penning 1976’s Taxi Driver for Scorsese, with the pair going on to collaborate on Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and Bringing Out the Dead.
His films include Cat People (pictured), American Gigolo with Richard Gere, and First Reformed, for which he was Oscar-nominated for his screenplay (Picture: Michael Montfort/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty)The Oscar-nominated Schrader – who was recognised for the script of his 2017 thriller First Reformed – has also directed over 20 of his own films.
Alongside American Gigolo, he’s also helmed musical drama Light of Day, Dying of the Light and Dog eat Dog with leading actor Nicolas Cage, Light Sleeper and The Walker.
He also worked with screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis on 2013’s The Canyons, the troubled erotic thriller that was slated as Lindsay Lohan’s movie comeback.
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Metro has contacted personal and legal representatives for Paul Schrader for further comment.
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