First Look at P.T. Anderson's New Film

[ono]

An exclusive first look at P.T. Anderson's fifth film now in the works follows.  Hot off the quirky Punch-Drunk Love, a film loved by critics and proving Adam Sandler to be a feasible choice as a dramatic lead, sources close to Anderson have confirmed that pre-production will be starting very soon on a film with working title Chase.

Like most Anderson films, Chase takes place in the heart of California, but in a welcome twist, it quickly moves north to a climax in Seattle, Washington.  It will co-star Anderson favorites Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly.  Best described as a manic romp through various California cities, it involves Hoffman's character (Prescott Mathis) and his discovery of a dead body (Samantha Morton, previously of Minority Report, Morvern Callar, and In America fame).

The best way to describe Chase at this point is a The Big Lebowski/The Rat Race/True Romance amalgamation, wrought with themes of mistaken identity, split-second timing incidents, and comedies of error.  However, anyone who is familiar with Anderson's work knows that you can't boil it down to rudimentary formulas such as these.  Considering Anderson's fondness for his friend Tarantino's work and his tendency to pay homage to classics, one can expect an incredibly atmospheric film.  Considering the debt True Romance owes Badlands, we can expect Anderson to reflect on this poetic quality, and bring dramatic ambience to the forefront in spades.

When questioned about his choice of Philip Seymour Hoffman as a leading man, especially after the questionable showing of Love Liza, Anderson replied, "Well, Hoffman is a friend of mine.  Fuck cries of nepotism, you know?  Besides, I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Sure Philip Baker Hall can walk like a motherfucker, but you ain't seen nothing until you've seen Hoffman run."

And run, Hoffman will.  Hoffman's character finds a phone ringing near the corpse he discovers early on in the film.  He answers, and finds the corpse's pimp (played by Orlando Jones, whose scenes in Magnolia were left on the cutting room floor) shouting obscenities and saying he'll pay him to take her to him.  Intrigued, the man seeks out the pimp, only to rob him blind in a moment of incredible chutzpah, recalling memorable scenes from Anderson's 1997 film, Boogie Nights.  He tells his pal Reilly about the coup, and the two quickly flee north.

Also joining the cast are P.T. Anderson newcomer Maya Rudolph and Anderson film staple, Julianne Moore.  Rudolph, of SNL notoriety, will play a woman the two men meet at a roadside truckstop-slash-tavern aptly named, "The Lonely Boar."  She learns of the two men's coup and eventually tries to double-cross them.  Commenting on the nature of her character, Rudolph says, "Paul and I would like to take my SNL cache to the next level.  You may remember an obscure character of mine such as Leilani Burke, or someone more popular like Donatella Versace.  The best way I can describe Candace is those two women, coupled with the charm of Joan Rivers.  She's a real nut-job, and Paul's the man to bring out the nut in me even more.  I can't wait."

Not much is known about Julianne Moore's role in the film, though she is rumored to want to depart from the depressive characters she's played as of late, and return to the fun of someone like Maude Lebowski.  Hence, the comparisons to the Coen brothers' Lebowski being even more warranted.

The icing on the cake, though, are talks in the Anderson camp of Mark Wahlberg and Heather Graham returning to work with Anderson after the 1997 smash-hit, Boogie Nights.  Tenatively, Graham will play another hooker under Jones's control; Wahlberg, her boyfriend.  For Anderson fans, this is a nice parallel to his earlier work, where the two played Rollergirl and Dirk Diggler, romantic interests in a series of adult films.  The two are torn between helping Hoffman's and Jones's characters.  Graham is infuriated at Morton's character's passing; the two were close friends before her death.  As a result, she wants revenge, but also wants to get Wahlberg's character out.  Wahlberg will play a sort of lackey for Jones, complicating matters even further.  Morton's part won't be as small as it first seems.  Shifts in times will allow the viewers to get an ample backstory for everyone during the second act, when during Hoffman's and Reilly's meeting with Rudolph, earlier events are explored.

The film eventually find its way all the way up the west coast to Seattle, focusing on the scenery of the city as one of its central characters.  Anderson plans to highlight the city's infamy for its long rainy seasons, and its prime landmark, the Seattle Space Needle, where he plans to shoot a great number of scenes.  This, all aiming to magnify that dramatic ambience for which Anderson's films have always been known.  Here, Anderson has decided to spread his wings again, much like The Coen Brothers, in taking on another US city and giving it his own spin.  In Punch-Drunk Love, he visited both Hawaii and Utah, and now with Seattle, Anderson is finally starting to give us a greater view of his Americana.

Whether the film ends there remains to be seen.  As has always been the case, Anderson was incredibly tight-lipped about any sort of resolution to his work.  Known for rewriting scenes while shooting, nothing is ever set in stone.  The film is scheduled to begin shooting this summer, with tenative-yet-unlikely hopes of an end-of-year release.  !sokcuf ,yaD 'slooF lirpA yppaH

[El Duderino]

YAY!

[Alethia]

bout time we heard something...but...this doesn't sound horribly interesting....yet...fingers crossed

[The Perineum Falcon]

I think that's the longest post I've ever read in its entirety.

[Stefen]

ahahahahahhahaahahahahahaha. Yeah. (funny)

[82]

Maybe wait till it's April 1st in more than just your time zone.

[russiasusha]

I want a source, no offense...

[billybrown]

Me too, no offense... where did all this info come from?

[Alethia]

wouldn't that be funny if it was a big april fools joke?  ahahahaha..ahem...

[cine]

wouldn't that be funny if it was a big april fools joke?  ahahahaha..ahem...

Don't be silly. It was March 31st when he posted it. What idiot would do an April Fools joke the day before?

[Drencrom]

To paraphrase the ever poignant Big Worm:

"Postin' like that, is like playin' wit' my emotions. Don't make me have to FUCK you up, Smokey."

April fools indeed. Time zone be damned.

[cine]

Drencrom,

You had me at "hello."

[Kal]

Its common to do jokes the day before now cause it sounds less suspicious... anyways... if its true I would definetly would like to know where this came from... if its a joke then someone has way too much free time...

I have to say... I know some of the people mentioned in that post and havent heard anything at all... maybe it was kept in total confidentiallity until now... or maybe its all bull

[Pubrick]

he was just funnin ya.

[Stefen]

the funniest part of this whole thread was when eward said

"bout time we heard something...but...this doesn't sound horribly interesting....yet...fingers crossed"

For some reason that made me laugh.