Other actors/directors/etc. who mention PTA

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

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Tdog

PTA has that Kevin Shield's thing of referring to every action as being done by "WE" when really he should just be saying "I". It's a strange sort of modesty but one I appreciate all the same.

wilberfan

Marc Maron talks with Alfred Molina in Episode 999 of WTF with Marc Maron.

QuoteAlfred tells Marc how he transitioned to movies, with his first film being a small trifle called Raiders of the Lost Ark, and how that paved the way for his future work with directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Raimi, and Jim Jarmusch. And yes, he and Marc talk about THAT scene in Boogie Nights.

Link

jviness02

Mmmmm this lines up with something I heard awhile back. I was told Paul had gotten to a point where he knew the technical aspects as well as any DP which would make it hard/awkward for well-established DPs to work with him. This was right before The Master. After Robert joined IV, I assumed it wasn't anything, but maybe so.

You'd be surprised how many great directors don't even bother diving deep into the technical aspects of filmmaking because that's the DP's job. Scorsese hand draws storyboards for every shot and knows exactly what he wants, but he never discusses actual lenses with his DPs.  The DP interprets Scorsese's drawings and explanations. Scorsese has said on several occasions in interviews he rarely thinks about the lighting of a scene. Not saying this to make anything less of Scorsese, just saying PTA's knowledge of cinematography is unique even among great directors. I can see a cinematographer of Elswit's status feeling unneeded and maybe even unwanted when the director is that knowledgeable and that set in their ways. Not saying PTA has done anything wrong on his part, either! They may no longer jive together is all.


Jeremy Blackman

^ Since we don't have upvotes anymore, let me just say, post of the week.

wilberfan

Agreed.  But shouldn't we at least wait until Thursday...?

polkablues

My house, my rules, my coffee

wilberfan

I'll put this here.

Quote
The Adam McKay-directed political comedy-drama "Vice" about the rise of Dick Cheney managed to be a Best Picture nominee, even as reviews for the film were decidedly more mixed than McKay's previous big contender "The Big Short".

It's a film with some decidedly odd moments, but one that was cut because it was considered just too wild was a musical number early in the film as Steve Carell's Donald Rumsfeld explains to Christian Bale's Dick Cheney the ins and outs of Washington politics.

Those involved have discussed the scene before whilst doing press for the movie, even indicating that the cut came after filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson weighed in with his take on the movie, and we know it's set to be included on the Blu-ray and digital release. Today, Slashfilm has posted the clip online.


Alethia

Man, he would totally cut Wise Up today...

jviness02

Quote from: eward on March 12, 2019, 06:25:50 AM
Man, he would totally cut Wise Up today...

He's said so.

That said, this clip isn't half as good as Wise Up.

Alethia

Yeah, I know, I just always like to imagine he's being facetious.

Sleepless

He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Heisenberg

PTA got a special thanks credit on Jordan Peele's US.

wilberfan


(To elaborate just a little):

QuoteBesides David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick is also an influence, especially The Shining. There are also echoes of the TV series The Leftovers, as well as that certain biblical verse that subtly pops up throughout the film, in the tradition of Exodus 8:2 throughout Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (PTA is thanked in the film's acknowledgements.)


Source

csage97

Quote from: wilberfan on March 22, 2019, 03:47:37 PM

(To elaborate just a little):

QuoteBesides David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick is also an influence, especially The Shining. There are also echoes of the TV series The Leftovers, as well as that certain biblical verse that subtly pops up throughout the film, in the tradition of Exodus 8:2 throughout Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (PTA is thanked in the film's acknowledgements.)


Source

I wouldn't exactly call those verse references in Us "subtle" .... The camera literally shows it as the main point of interest in at least two shots.

I'm also pretty cranky about that movie and think its intellectual depth is being over-exaggerated in the media. Still better than a lot films, relatively speaking, but it doesn't at all live up to all the lauding. I'll take the small chances I can get to complain about that movie, I guess.

Jeremy Blackman

(Light spoilers for "Us")

I agree, Us is anything but subtle, and the placement of the bible verses is definitely not. I don't mind unsubtle movies, though... mother! is extremely unsubtle, and it's my favorite film of the last 5+ years. You could also argue the bible references were one of the few subtle things about Magnolia.

I actually think all 3 of these movies share some DNA. They are not subtle, but their endings are bonkers in a complex enough way to invite a spectrum of interpretations (multiples of which may be true at the same time) and leave enough unanswered to arrive at a satisfying ambiguity.

I see the words "muddled" and "confused" being used to describe the ending of Us, and these are words that have been applied to some of my favorite movies for the same reasons.