Other actors/directors/etc. who mention PTA

Started by edison, January 18, 2008, 08:47:02 PM

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Alethia

Dude had PTA at his 30th birthday. Just...motherfucker.

wilder

Paul Thomas Anderson's Longtime Cinematographer Says They Probably Won't Work Together Again
via IndieWire

Robert Elswit has shot six films for Paul Thomas Anderson and won an Academy Award for his work on "There Will Be Blood," but the cinematographer doesn't expect to work with Anderson again. During an appearance on the Light the Fuse podcast, Elswit didn't have great things to say about their working relationship: "God, I don't know what it is anymore," he said. "It's like a bad married couple. Unpleasant."

Asked whether he could see them collaborating again, Elswit didn't sound optimistic. "I don't know. Probably not. You know, it depends on how he feels. I would do it again...I didn't enjoy myself on 'Inherent Vice'...It was a combination of me and Paul just not getting along, and I can be as immature as him."

wilberfan

"If you two get divorced, can I live with Papa Paul...?  Can I see Daddy Bob every other weekend, or something?"

Lottery

That's a shame. Perhaps on IV, PTA felt confident in his abilities to the point where he didn't need to rely entirely on Elswit's advice, so they had some disagreements. Or they simply just didn't get along.

Anyway, he said this last year: "Elswit was nice enough to work with me and teach me everything. He was and is my hero. "

Tdog

Maybe Elswit was saying "Paul, maybe we should move the fucking camera and have some establishing shots!".

Pringle

Listening to the podcast itself, it seems to me that Elswit is definitely at least 50% tongue-in-cheek/sardonic here. After this tidbit, he tells a 5 minute story about how brilliant and talented PTA is.

Alethia

Ugh...I've long suspected this, but to hear it more or less confirmed hurts. This hits me like when Blixa Bargeld or, more pointedly, Mick Harvey left the Bad Seeds...  :(

WorldForgot

Quote from: Tdog on February 16, 2019, 06:56:10 AM
Maybe Elswit was saying "Paul, maybe we should move the fucking camera and have some establishing shots!".

Ew. A take can be compelling in so many ways. For Paul, clearly he's in love with performances and actors off the jump. Why IV'z detractors insist it should have been the sort of PTA/Elswit collaboration we've already seen before, I'll never understand.

Alethia

Think PTA was actively trolling Elswit and that's why it's so sedate? lol

Alethia


Tdog

Quote from: WorldForgot on February 16, 2019, 12:03:33 PM
Quote from: Tdog on February 16, 2019, 06:56:10 AM
Maybe Elswit was saying "Paul, maybe we should move the fucking camera and have some establishing shots!".

Ew. A take can be compelling in so many ways. For Paul, clearly he's in love with performances and actors off the jump. Why IV'z detractors insist it should have been the sort of PTA/Elswit collaboration we've already seen before, I'll never understand.

I was only kidding, I like IV a lot. It's not my favourite PTA movie and I genuinely do think it would have benefitted pacing wise by shooting/blocking some of the scenes differently but I do have a lot of love for the movie.

Lottery

Quote from: Pringle on February 16, 2019, 11:36:34 AM
Listening to the podcast itself, it seems to me that Elswit is definitely at least 50% tongue-in-cheek/sardonic here. After this tidbit, he tells a 5 minute story about how brilliant and talented PTA is.

Yeah, actually listening to it now, it sounds pretty harmless.
It's worth listening to the PTA bit for Elswit talking about use of lens flares and white walls on PDL.

Pringle

According to Chris O'Falt (from Indiewire) on twitter:

"It hasn't been reported, but on MASTER, his first non-Elswit movie, PTA stopped talking to his DoP and starting communicating directly with his gaffer and camera op... hence PHANTOM THREAD."

I've heard rumors of this on here before, that Malaimare essentially just became another part of the crew midway through production. It makes sense as well, considering his seemingly complete absence during the release of the film, and he has had no real high profile gigs since The Master, which is universally lauded as one of the most brilliantly photographed films of this century. However, one of the films he's shot since The Master is Scott Frank's 'A Walk Among the Tombstones', which was written and directed by Scott Frank, who is one of PTA's good friends.

Jeremy Blackman

Interesting. PTA really testing the boundaries of auteurism. I'd love to know which of those particularly mindblowing shots were ones that PTA had taken over.

As a side note, PTA definitely caused Malaimare to go bald:


2004




2009



2011

The Master is filmed

2012



2018


axxonn

I know Mihai's work with Coppola is well regarded, but it has an overriding unrefined quality imo in spite of how stylish it often is (which generally ties into part of the appeal that some have for FFC's 2000s experimental movies). It wouldn't surprise me if PTA felt he had to take over duties on The Master if things were looking the same way.