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When asked how his creative process has evolved over the last 50 years, Schrader says, "It's gotten freer. It's gotten better."

"Having done this for decades, I've figured out what I don't need," he explains. "So much money is wasted in Hollywood because directors are indecisive about what they need, and that's usually because they’ve gotten burnt in the past. At one point or another, they've thought, 'Oh, we don’t need this scene,' and then it turns out that they did need that scene."

"The tendency many have when they're directing now seems to be, 'Let's fill up our plate,'" Schrader says. "'So what if 25 percent of the food goes in the waste can?'"