Jack Huston On The Tough Questions About Sexual Abuse Posed By Paul Schrader’s Film ‘The Basics Of Philosophy’: “It’s Almost Become A Taboo Subject” – Venice Film Festival
At the Venice Film Festival, actor Jack Huston spoke to Deadline about starring in Paul Schrader's new psychological drama The Basics of Philosophy, which explores guilt and the possibility of escaping one's past. Huston plays philosophy lecturer John Jorrison, a seemingly upstanding professor whose past as a music teacher who abused a teenage student, Miguel, resurfaces after a current student falsely threatens to blackmail him over grades. The film, Schrader's latest in a long line of morally troubled male protagonists, tackles the difficult and often avoided subject of sexual abuse and its lasting impact on victims.
The 94-minute drama also stars Daniel Zovatto as Miguel, Bill Pullman as Jorrison's powerful father who covered up the original transgression, and Sofia Boutella as a psychology professor entangled with Jorrison. Huston revealed he initially hesitated over the role, having previously said he would never play a predator involving children, and read the script seven times before agreeing to meet Schrader. He described the screenplay as among the best he has read, calling the film "masterful" and a fulfilment of a long-held wish to work with Schrader, whose credits include Taxi Driver, American Gigolo and First Reformed.
- Jack Huston discusses Paul Schrader's Venice premiere The Basics of Philosophy
- He plays a lecturer confronting a past abuse case
- Huston initially hesitated but called the script masterful
New here? Start with this
Paul Schrader has built a career on films about troubled, isolated men wrestling with guilt, including Taxi Driver, American Gigolo and First Reformed. His new drama, The Basics of Philosophy, follows that pattern: it centres on a university lecturer whose hidden past as an abuser of a teenage student comes back to haunt him when a present-day student threatens him with a false blackmail claim.
The film stars Jack Huston as the lecturer, alongside Daniel Zovatto as his former victim, Bill Pullman as the lecturer's father who helped cover up the original abuse, and Sofia Boutella as a colleague drawn into his life. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where cast members have been discussing the film's unflinching approach to a subject that is rarely tackled directly on screen.
The story matters because it raises difficult questions about guilt, accountability and whether people who have committed abuse can ever escape their past, themes that have made some of the cast wary of the subject matter beforehand. Huston has spoken about his own hesitation in taking the role, given the sensitivity of portraying a perpetrator of abuse against a minor.