What could PTA's 8th film be? Fun speculation.

Started by TheImaginator16, March 06, 2014, 02:24:44 PM

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Pubrick

how about we stop just imagining (imaginating?) our dream adaptations, but in addition to that, which is worth nothing to anyone, we actually try to guess the kind of movie he'll make next, based on the trajectory of the films he's made before.

he is rather predictable, since he can't stop making the same movie over and over again. with the same ending, the same contracts at a desk, the same father/son drama, the same film every single time. just like kubrick, like scorsese, like lynch, like any director worth a damn.

Inherent Vice will be a turning point but not in the way we or even PTA was expecting. the death of PSH will be felt. apart from the prominent dedication he'll get at the end of IV, the real impact will be evident in whatever creative pursuit PTA undertakes next. his influence on PTA's output is on par if not exceeding that of altman, demme, his girlfriends, and his father. look at the way those figures have shaped his films without directly being involved with them.

PSH was someone that actively had a hand in his films. someone he trusted more times than anyone with his vision through the sheer number of times they worked together. we know that his relationship to his actors is nothing ordinary. he didn't just hire them to read the lines and hit their marks. he wanted something from them, and they were all too willing to give it to him -- better than that, they promised to find in themselves something beyond what PTA had imagined. they wanted to go the extra mile for him.

PSH was at the forefront of those who gave themselves to PTA's vision, he signed on to the master without even reading the script, he saved PDL by stepping into the villainous role when Sean Penn pussied out, hell he would've replaced the idiot who played Eli Sunday originally if he hadn't been 30 years too old and 30 kg too fat for the role.. still would've been better than Paul Dano. but i digress.. the way his actors give themselves is not just spiritually, emotionally, professionally, it's an adverb that is not in common usage because it only applies to the relationship an actor has with their director.

PTA, when he used to give a lot more interviews and do commentaries etc, used to describe his relationship with actors as "i'm just a fan".. he hires them and then he sits back and LOVES what they do.. what is a fan in this sense? he's not after their autograph, they're already giving their image to his film, he's not after a picture with them either for his instagram.. you see as peasants our understanding of the way directors relate to their actors is somewhat limited. what PTA loves to do is GIVE.. firstly he gives them amazing material to work with, then he gives them TRUST and FREEDOM, he allows them to show HIM something he couldn't have imagined. that's how Joaquin came up with Freddie's gait, remember? and from the recent scene we talked about in That Moment we know even little things like the clicking of PSH's pen to his mouth as Scotty J is something he didn't come up with but absorbed into his vision.

so by now, despite his greatest efforts to trick us otherwise, we can safely predict a lot of aspects of his films -- that's precisely the reason we go to them because they will have these amazing qualities that have been present in everything he's done. Inherent Vice is going to be a turning point. we can see from the entire production saga that all this movie is about is new casting announcements. that's funny but there's more to it than mundane blog fodder. without even reading the book we know it's going to have a huge cast.. while it may be driven by JP's PI character it's safe to predict he will encounter a whole slew of interesting characters. what is PTA doing with these people, how is he using them? why choose a story that has so many characters relative to his recent output?

IV feels like a hybrid of his single-character films, PDL-CMBB-TM, and the ensemble films he left behind.. the way to make this work will be for  JP's character to be a passive intruder to the lives of many vivid entities. all main characters are surrogates for PTA and side characters function as revelations, anxieties, fears, memories, loves, addictions, and myriad other things he has on his mind. IV will be his most generous film, it will make the most money, not least of which because it might well be hilarious but also he's once again hit upon a hot topic without meaning to - marijuana. the spirit of the 60s is flourishing once again on the east coast and through serendipitous alignment he finds himself in the centre of it. refer to his previous hits: sex in the late 90s clinton era, oil and greed in the bush era. That was not his point, but it didn't hurt his pocket.

now i think we can arrive at what PSH will do for his next film. he can't count on that most reliable extension of himself, even if he wanted to, even if he thought he had one more great role for PSH to play.. the time has passed. in some ways he has foreshadowed this event through the bittersweet farewell he gave the master. that may well be the most touching tribute to his friend, in his presence, in his film. but I think death will play a bigger role in the next film.. it took him 2 films to get over his father's passing, it took him just as many to tear himself away from altman, his only consistent loves remained California and PSH, with occasional affairs with various leading men and minimal visits to other locations.

his next film is his hardest to predict, but if we approach it with what we know about him (we should know more than anyone on the internets) we can probably take a good stab. i think he'll go back to the source, since he'll be reaching some kind of apogee with Inherent Vice. somewhere in california, Mumbles O Malley will make an appearance, and what he mumbles will blow everyone's mind: "Hoffbud".
under the paving stones.

TheImaginator16

Quote from: N on March 12, 2014, 08:31:42 PM


If we do get a Bioshock movie it's far more likely to be a Paul W. S. Anderson thingy.

Haha, and I'm pretty sure I would not like that to happen ;) I've heard Bastion is very good from friends. Been meaning to play it and now that you've mentioned it I might do it sooner rather than later! Thanks for the recommendation  :yabbse-smiley:


wilder

Quote from: Pubrick on March 13, 2014, 10:32:43 AM
hell he would've replaced the idiot who played Eli Sunday originally if he hadn't been 30 years too old and 30 kg too fat for the role.. still would've been better than Paul Dano.

I maintain that this should have happened, or should have been the plan from the onset. Still don't see a completely compelling reason why Eli's character had to be so young, and for me Dano's casting has been PT's only glaring misstep. PSH in the role of a hellfire preacher would have been fucking awesome, and a much more even match for DDL anyhow.

TheImaginator16

I actually really liked Paul Dano as Eli. He gives the role a certain squirmy-ness. Makes the character feel appropriately dislikeable. This made me sympathise with Plainview in an interesting way and view Eli as an annoying fly that needs to be swatted. I would have loved PSH in the role, but IMO the character would have seemed too wise and old and not irritating enough. To much of an equal to Daniel. I mean fuck knows what PSH would have brought to the role, but I still get the impression it wouldn't have felt right. With PSH as Eli, the film would feel more like a face off of titans between DDL and PSH, Daniel and Eli. With Dano in the role, it feels more like Daniel is the one titan. And I personally prefer that.

I also think one of the reasons Eli had to be so young is to  make Daniel be able to look down on him more. If they were the same age it would have been too equal. For me the film emphasises the character of Daniel massively and if Eli was older it would have felt like more of a face off of two characters rather than a study of one singular prominent one. The youth just made Eli seem more naive and unwise and thus more annoying in contrast to Daniels arguable "wisdom" and low expectations of people. I feel it kinda shows that this greed and ambition and thirst for more is kinda primordial and that what Eli stands for is less so.

Reel

You took the words right out of my mouth, imaginationman. I was thinking about the clash of the titans reference, like the frame couldn't contain those two. My eyes would be confused about who to watch, and it would seem like a fair fight between two grown men instead of the absolute rape that it is. In the end, paul probably didn't use him to spare his pasty ass from that texas sun. Anyways, PSH got to play like the best priest role ever opposite meryl streep the next year, so it evens out

TheImaginator16

Quote from: Pubrick on March 13, 2014, 10:32:43 AM


Inherent Vice will be a turning point but not in the way we or even PTA was expecting. the death of PSH will be felt. apart from the prominent dedication he'll get at the end of IV, the real impact will be evident in whatever creative pursuit PTA undertakes next.

Never thought about this in that way. I think you're completely right, the death will be felt for sure. I think what he does next will be his most bitter sweet film.  An interesting thing about Inherent Vice is that it actually mentions heroin addicts quite frequently. Haven't finished the book yet so I don't know just how much of an opinion Pynchon puts on the subject. Considering how PSH dies, how Paul now feels and also edits the certain parts of the film that comment on drug use (soft and hard) could change as he takes on more of a mournful view on what the harder drugs do and such. I doubt we'll see him damning marijuana in the way the film is put together but the scenes with harder shit that will surely be shown...could for sure have been effected by PTA's mindset after PSH's death.

It's almost impossible to imagine where or when or what his next film will be about. But I can imagine a character who's circumstances slightly mirror those of PSH, extremely talented and adored, hard drug addiction. Similar to how Magnolia dealt with cancer with the Earl Partridge. Even if the 8th film or a character in it doesn't mirror PSH very much (most likely), I can still imagine the film to explore hard drug use and all the highs and lows its effects can have. With a mournful bittersweet tribute-y friendly tinge.

With all this said, I feel rather insensitive talking about PSH's death and PTA's reaction to it in such a casual and calculated way, as if I know anything about the relationship and minds of these two great men. 




TheImaginator16

Glad to, Reelist  :yabbse-smiley:

Quote from: Reelist on March 13, 2014, 05:01:00 PM
Anyways, PSH got to play like the best priest role ever opposite meryl streep the next year, so it evens out

Haha yes! And also not to mention he got the ULTIMATE religious leader role as Dodd in The Master.

Pozer

Quote from: wilder on March 13, 2014, 03:38:26 PM
Quote from: Pubrick on March 13, 2014, 10:32:43 AM
hell he would've replaced the idiot who played Eli Sunday originally if he hadn't been 30 years too old and 30 kg too fat for the role.. still would've been better than Paul Dano.

I maintain that this should have happened, or should have been the plan from the onset. Still don't see a completely compelling reason why Eli's character had to be so young, and for me Dano's casting has been PT's only glaring misstep. PSH in the role of a hellfire preacher would have been fucking awesome, and a much more even match for DDL anyhow.

Hm. Not so sure the duality of these roles wouldve been the right match for DDL vs. PSH. Unless it was shaped much different. Plus his Master "false profit" preacher wouldve felt too samesies, therefore wouldnt have happened. There's something more stimulating about seeing this match uneven, seeing him punk this kid. "I broke you and I beat you" ... "Say it again sayitagainsayitagainsayitagain" ... "You're the aaaaaaafterbirth" ... "You sniveling ass, you booooy" wouldn't have rang the same. The only misstep was not doing a better job of clearing up that they were twins. The problem they were fixing with the other pussy actor bitching out was felt.   

Additionally, if this did happen and PSH went on with THE MASTER imagine how repetitive (and boring) these matches would've been. SANDLER/DAY-LEWIS/PHOENIX(sort've) VS. THE HOFF. Talk about TRULY making the same movie over and over.

Fuzzy Dunlop

Quotehow Paul now feels and also edits the certain parts of the film that comment on drug use (soft and hard) could change as he takes on more of a mournful view on what the harder drugs do and such

Considering the fact that they finished scoring the film only a few weeks later, I have to think the picture was already locked or very close to it at the time of PSH's death. I also kind of doubt PTA would go back and alter his work in such an obvious way, even if he had the time.

That said, PTA couldn't have been unaware that his friend was struggling for the past year or so, and that has to manifest itself in the film in some way, but who could possibly know how. During the PDL era, PTA and Jon Brion were both going through break-ups and Ted Demme died, but who could say what influence those things had on the finished film. He settled down with a comedy star and started having daughters during CMBB, by far the bleakest film of the bunch.

The truth is, none of us know what's been going on with the dude, not really. While PSH's passing is obviously a huge, devastating blow, and will more than likely resonate in the next film as Pubrick said, we have no idea what else has been going on in his head, or what else has been going on in his life, because he's kept his cards pretty close to his chest for over a decade. He barely does interviews, certainly no commentaries or That Moment style docs. He reveals himself through his works, which also stubbornly refuse to explain themselves; each picture has been more beguiling than the last.

In the interest of fun speculation, I'm gonna guess that the PDL/CMBB/Master era is over and that Inherent Vice will kick off a third epoch in PTA's career. My big question is, is his shit gonna start getting even weirder?

Mel

I wouldn't be surprised if he does something similar to Scorsese: making "Hugo", so he can show his film to daughter. Oldest daughter of PTA soon will be 10, so this isn't farfetched. Pulling in disguised story of PSH inside children's film about fight between good and evil? This is the best speculation I could think of without resorting to fantasy league of possible adaptions.
Simple mind - simple pleasures...

Drenk

I can't find the interview back but I'm sure his oldest daughter has seen The Master.
Ascension.

Reel

she liked the part when everyone was naked. Maybe he'll do a Caligula type movie for her.

Punch

He talked about doing a movie set in the 50s again dealing with Television, behind the scenes and something to do with his father i can't find the interview where he said it though, it was during promo for the master
"oh you haven't truly watched a film if you didn't watch it on the big screen" mumbles the bourgeois dipshit

Fuzzy Dunlop

Quote from: Punch on March 14, 2014, 10:03:20 AM
He talked about doing a movie set in the 50s again dealing with Television, behind the scenes and something to do with his father i can't find the interview where he said it though, it was during promo for the master

"From time to time I've thought about making a film about that era of local TV and the kind of Wild West lawlessness and the things that could happen. When my dad was doing it, it wasn't national, it was local. And it felt like lunch time was drinking time and you could come back to work totally hammered."
http://badassdigest.com/2013/01/15/irresponsible-speculation-ptas-early-days-of-tv-movie/

03

forgive me if someone thought of this before, but i just had an idea for a fun game.
i'll make a thread of it, if this post is original:
what would the best film or films that pta could remake?