‘Master Gardener’: First Look Clip From Paul Schrader’s Latest

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline can share the official first look at the Master Gardener, the latest film from Paul Schrader set to debut at the Venice Film Festival.

Written and directed by Schrader, the film follows Narvel Roth, the meticulous horticulturist of Gracewood Gardens. He is as much devoted to tending the grounds of this beautiful and historic estate, as he is to pandering to his employer, the wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill. However, chaos enters Narvel’s spartan existence when Mrs. Haverhill demands that he take on her wayward and troubled great-niece Maya as a new apprentice, unlocking dark secrets from a buried violent past that threatens them all.

Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, Quintessa Swindell, and Esai Morales star. The film is produced by David Gonzales for Northern Lights, Amanda Crittenden of KOJO Studios, Scott LaStaiti of Ottocento Films, and Jamieson McClurg at Flickstar. Executive producers are Dale Roberts and Luisa Law.

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Additional credits include cinematography by Alexander Dynan, editing by Benjamin Rodriguez Jr., production design by Ashley Fenton, costume design by Wendy Talley, and music by Devonte Hynes aka Blood Orange. HanWay Films, who worked with Schrader on 2021’s The Card Counter, are handling world sales.

“I have been blessed living in a bubble of creative freedom, affluence, leisure time, peace and good health,” Schrader said introducing the film. “My latest film centers on Narvel Roth, a man sitting alone in a room, wearing a mask— which is his occupation, a horticulturist—and waiting for something to happen. And then something happens.”

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The film debuts Out of Competition in Venice on Saturday, September 3.

Schrader is also set to receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the festival. The Raging Bull and Taxi Driver screenwriter was last in Venice in 2021, with the crime drama The Card Counter, which starred Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Haddish. Prior to that, his 2017 film First Reformed, starring Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried, debuted on the Lido and was later nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Check out the full Master Gardener first look clip above.