The Paul Thomas Anderson appreciation thread.

[Tacit Ronin]

Filmography:

Hard Eight

Boogie Nights

Magnolia

Punch Drunk Love

There Will be Blood

The Master

and, coming soon, to a 70mm theater hopefully near you

PTA Trivia:

• Film School is a “complete con”. Paul Thomas Anderson never went to film school and learned the craft by watching films, reading books and magazines, and watching films accompanied by director’s audio commentary. He visited New York University for two days. The future director decided it was not the right place for him after a professor stated students wishing to make the next ‘Terminator’ were not welcome.

• For the brief time he was at NYU film school he handed in some of Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet's work as his own. When he got it back with a "C" grade he decided to leave.

• While doing press for 'Magnolia', the most frequent question asked was, 'What did the frogs mean?' Paul, after answering one too many of these questions, shot back at one interviewer, and I'm paraphrasing, 'It doesn't mean anything. The frogs don't have any significance. Only the fact that they fell has significance. If I had the budget, they would have been cats and dogs.'

• Paul can only write four hours a day, due to his habit of chain smoking while at the computer.

Quotes:

My dad was one of the first guys on the block to have a VCR. So along with all the videotapes that I would rummage through, I would find porno movies. Not that it twisted me into some maniac or anything. I was watching porno from age 10 to 17. I had an interest in it.

I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film's abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y'know, that's great. But I hope it involves an audience. If not, that's my ****-up.

Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.

We're all children of Kubrick, aren't we? Is there anything you can do that he hasn't done?

 

[I Am The Knight]

Great director. One of the modern talents. I still need to watch Hard Eight and The Master, though.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

He gets so much mileage out of his actors.

He's the anti-George Lucas.

Can't wait for Inherent Vice. There's so much to chew on.

 

[gwynplaine]

Great director, great movies.

 

[antonydelfini]

I havent watched his first movie Hard Eight, but his other movies have all been great, especially his last 2 movies. The best director today IMO. Inherent Vice might be his best yet.

The Master 9.5/10
There Will Be Blood 9.5/10
Punch-Drunk Love 9/10
Magnolia 8.5/10
Boogie Nights 8.5/10

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I'll be honest, the themes of There Will Be Blood flew right over my head but the brilliant acting is undeniable.

 

[StarLord]

I absolutely love There Will Be Blood.

An outstanding piece of work.

 

[weezerspider]

Well first of all Inherent Vice was not shot in 70mm so it will not be coming to a theater near you in 70mm format.

Yes, if my avatar and signature has not given it away, Paul Thomas Anderson is without a doubt my favorite filmmaker. He writes extremely rich, flawed, realistic characters and the camera moves and cinematic techniques he uses are absolutely the work of a genius. He's the compilation of Max Ophuls, Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman with a hint of Avante Garde legend Robert Downey Sr. Simply put, he has something for everyone: humor, substance, cinematic techniques and literary expressions in scripts.

The only film he has made that isn't absolutely fantastic is Hard Eight and it's a very good film for a 23 year old first time writer/director.

As Richard Ayoda said in an interview for The Double: " When I was a kid people wanted to be Spielberg, but the guys who really knew about film wanted to be Scorsese. The same things happening now with Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson. Both are exceptional filmmakers, but Paul brings a craft to his work that is ungodly."

 

[Black Narcissus]

I consider him to be the best of the past 10 years or so.

 

[PWN3R]

Absolutely my favorite director. I still remember my first viewing of Punch-Drunk Love. It was such an immediate reaction and connection to a film. I have never experienced that again. All of his films carry 'that little something' that just forces them to marinate in your minds days on end after watching.

He has some of the best humor, too. The greatest scene of all time (for me) is the drug deal gone bad in Boogie Nights. "That's Cosmo. He's Chinese."

I love this man so much. I can't believe what a career he has established in such a short time. A legend for sure.

 

[Brother Jack]

The "shut-up scene" in Punch-Drunk Love is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a movie.

 

[The Chris]

God i love those trivia notes, especially the film school bit and the David Mamet bit. Now I went to a school to study video production and I don't regret it because I met some really good people there and was able to play, but I definitely agree with the opinion that the best way to learn is to do it (I've definitely felt like that in the past year), and watching movies like a crazy person certainly helps too, and it's great to see that such a great filmmaker as PTA did it that way. It gives you even more faith in yourself.

 

[weezerspider]

Absolutely my favorite director. I still remember my first viewing of Punch-Drunk Love. It was such an immediate reaction and connection to a film. I have never experienced that again. All of his films carry 'that little something' that just forces them to marinate in your minds days on end after watching.

He has some of the best humor, too. The greatest scene of all time (for me) is the drug deal gone bad in Boogie Nights. "That's Cosmo. He's Chinese."

I love this man so much. I can't believe what a career he has established in such a short time. A legend for sure.

Yes. That's my favorite scene of all time. When people ask me why Jessie's Girl is on my iPod, I show them this scene.

The "shut-up scene" in Punch-Drunk Love is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a movie.

I love when he tells his brother in law that he sometimes has random crying episodes and one beat later, runs off and cries. It's so dry and I totally missed it the first time, but on repeated viewings that gets me every time.

God i love those trivia notes, especially the film school bit and the David Mamet bit. Now I went to a school to study video production and I don't regret it because I met some really good people there and was able to play, but I definitely agree with the opinion that the best way to learn is to do it (I've definitely felt like that in the past year), and watching movies like a crazy person certainly helps too, and it's great to see that such a great filmmaker as PTA did it that way. It gives you even more faith in yourself.

Agreed. He is certainly one of the most inspiring DIY filmmakers because he really did do it himself.

 

[redhawk23]

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

There Will Be Blood is one of my all time favorites.

 

[Boom]

One of the great contemporary American directors.

 

[Victarion]

The Resident Evil series is one of my favorite zombie film franchises.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Oh you.

I love the Kools outtake from The Master.

 

[StarLord]

BUMP!

Seriously though, I recommend Marc Maron's WTF Podcast interview with PTA. Brilliant.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Inherent Vice was okay but kind of a disappointment.

The Master and There Will Be Blood is great though.


Hard Eight, Magnolia and Punch Drunk love I really can't remember watching those films.