Hardcore is a American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader , and starring George C. With the help of a prostitute , his search leads him into the illicit subculture of pornography , including snuff films. Schrader had previously written the screenplay for Martin Scorsese 's Taxi Driver , and began developing Hardcore with executive producer John Milius the same year for Warner Bros. After Warner bought out Schrader's contract and took control of the project, Warren Beatty became attached as the star and producer of the film.
Clashes between Beatty and Schrader resulted in Beatty dropping out of the production, after which Scott was cast in the lead role. Hardcore was released in February by Columbia Pictures. It received somewhat mixed reviews on initial release, but retrospective reviews have been more positive. A single parent, Van Dorn is the father of a seemingly quiet, conservative teenaged girl, Kristen, who inexplicably disappears when she goes on a church-sponsored trip to Bellflower, California.
After five months pass, in May , Van Dorn has been living as usual without Kristen, until Mast unexpectedly visits him in Grand Rapids, and shows him an anonymously-produced 8 mm stag film he located in a Los Angeles sex shop.
The film, which shows Kristen having sex with two young men, shocks and disturbs Van Dorn, who comes to believe that his daughter has been kidnapped and indoctrinated into sex work. When Van Dorn travels to Los Angeles, where he finds Mast cavorting with a porn star he was supposed to be investigating, Van Dorn impulsively fires him.
Dissatisfied with the lack of leads from the LAPD , he strikes out on his own, visiting various sex shops, brothels and peep shows in hopes of locating Kristen. With no results from Van Dorn's morally taxing visits to over establishments, a desperate Van Dorn posts an advertisement and disguises as a pornography producer in the Los Angeles Free Press , hoping to find information about his daughter.
