Xixax Film Forum

Mild to medium SPOILERS

http://www.indiewire.com/2017/11/phantom-thread-daniel-day-lewis-interview-filming-paul-thomas-anderson-1201901065/

A majority of "Phantom Thread" takes place inside the fictional House of Woodcock, Reynolds' home and designer studio located in a Georgian townhouse in London. In order to successfully capture the atmosphere of a living, breathing London fashion studio in the 1950s, Anderson moved production into one of the actual Georgian townhouses. The director's hope was that the tight space would create an insular world for the film's production, but it was a decision that proved to be challenging for everyone, especially Day-Lewis.

"It was awful," Day-Lewis said bluntly of filming, noting that production started off wonderful in the countryside before becoming difficult when the bulk of filming had to take place inside the townhouse. "We had hoped to find that way of working again where we would be self-contained, beholden to no one, and uninterrupted. We built a world we could create and just stay in and no one could get into it. But in this townhouse, which was very beautiful, it was a nightmare."

According to Day-Lewis: "We were living on top of each other. It was an enormous unit. There was no space. The way it works if it's helpful is that these rooms belong to you. These rooms are yours, they are part of your life. But of course these rooms for us become storage spaces. You work in a room then you have to move all that shit into another room, and that space becomes a storage space. That entire house was like a termite nest."

Krieps echoed Day-Lewis' thoughts on the matter, saying the crowded rooms even gave her a panic attack on set one day. "Suddenly, I couldn't breathe," she remembered. "In every room there were just cables, there's an energy to it and it's taking the breath away of your character."

Day-Lewis is famous for his Method acting tendencies, but clearly staying in character was tough in such a small space. The actor even teased that the crew grew unhappy with the film's tight-knit production, joking, "You see, it's hard to work with a crew that really hates you...We must be fairly stupid because we didn't realize it was going to be like that."

Anderson agreed the filming of the movie was "hard," especially because the townhouse required the crew to carry all of the heavy film equipment up long and tall staircases. The layout of the set prevented Anderson from shooting in sequence because it proved too difficult to keep bringing the equipment up and down. But the struggle was worth it for the director, who wanted the close quarters to create an intimacy for the movie that would've been lost had he shot on a soundstage.

"They lived like mice, like miniature people in these tiny rooms," Anderson said of the real designers. "They're all on top of each other working. Whatever life they had, it's the same thing as their work. There was nowhere for them to go. It was good. It's the tradition of all those great films that we all love: 'Rebecca,' 'Brief Encounter.' They take place in real intimate places."

"We're all okay now," Anderson concluded. "But it was hard, it was really hard. There were struggles, but it was struggles that were worth it."

QuoteThe "There Will Be Blood" director named some of his favorite films with insular confines, including Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca," David Lean's "Brief Encounter", "The Passionate Friends" and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's "I Know Where I'm Going." "They all usually take place in intimate spaces," the filmmaker explained.

https://theplaylist.net/phantom-thread-paul-thomas-anderson-qa-20171127/#cb-content

From a W Magazine interview wth DDL (https://www.wmagazine.com/story/exclusive-daniel-day-lewis-giving-up-acting-phantom-thread), which I'm carefully jumping around in order to seek out quotes, while still avoiding potential spoilers (this has worked out poorly in the past and yet I always convince myself that I can satisfy my curiosity without having anything spoiled; years ago, I ended up accidentally learning the last line in TWBB):

Quote from: Similarly, for his role as Bill "the Butcher" Cutting in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis learned to throw cumbersome knives with pinpoint accuracy; he built a kitchen table when he played an iconoclast living off the grid in The Ballad of Jack & Rose; and he practically rigged a turn-of-the-century oil well for There Will Be Blood.

Comments about his process can sometimes vaguely annoy, as they can seem like distractions from the actual nuances of the performances themselves, which are always more interesting than the preparation, or the tiring "you were a...cobbler?!" myth-making. Given the embargo and the nature of the article, though, I can understand having to curtail more specific references to his acting. I just think DDL's legacy should be more frequently framed in terms of the onscreen results rather than the oft-repeated remarks about preparations. It might be an unstoppable cliche at this point.

Quote from: Mogambo on November 30, 2017, 09:31:17 PM
Still waiting on another 2 hour PTA interview with Maron.

"What does this guy want from me!? Now I have to see it again!"

I wonder if PTA will show up on Stephen Colbert's show. I think Colbert would probably handle that interview in a dull way, but still, I have this hunch that it's more likely than any other show.

That reminds me that he went on Jon Stewart's show during The Master's press tour. I didn't expect that.

Guessing there is a great PTA interview coming up on the Channel 33 podcast as host Sean Fennessey (a legit PTA-head) tweeted a photo (https://twitter.com/SeanFennessey/status/938817698317791232) of the two of them recently. 👌🏻

http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/director-paul-thomas-anderson-on-phantom-thread-mortality.html

https://soundcloud.com/thedirectorscut/phantom-thread-with-paul-thomas-anderson-and-rian-johnson-ep-120

Great conversation. I am halfway through it but so far seems not too spoilery. Nice to see Johnson found some time to do that now.

PTA still loves star wars. The self deprecation is pretty great too. Ha.

https://www.fandango.com/amp/movie-news/heres-what-paul-thomas-andersons-star-wars-movie-would-be-like-752856

"I really need to know who Rey's parents are," writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson said when we asked why his name was at the top of the list of those in attendance at the premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. "That's the most pressing question to me about that story. Who are the parents?"

Fandango had a chance to chat with Anderson about his new film Phantom Thread (tickets for an exclusive set of 70MM screenings are now on sale), starring Daniel Day-Lewis in what the notoriously elusive actor is billing as his final performance. The film tracks the meticulous life of a dressmaker (Day-Lewis) in London post-World War II, and what happens when a woman (Vicky Krieps) enters his life and challenges every aspect of his self-absorbed persona.

And while we spoke extensively about Phantom Thread – which, among other things, digs into that love/hate relationship we all have with the universal need to share our lives with another person – we also touched on another universal need: the desire for more Star Wars stories.

"There's a lot of theories around my house," he added. "The kids have a lot of theories, and everybody's really excited. I can't wait to go [to the premiere]. I haven't really been to a premiere in about a billion years, but I love Rian [Johnson's] work, so I'm really looking forward to what he's done."

Of course we had to ask the Inherent Vice and Boogie Nights filmmaker what his Star Wars movie would look like.

Anderson smirked, leaned back in his chair and gave it a moment of thought. "F**king over-long and depressing, probably," he said, laughing. "Moody. Obtuse. And look, you know... if it ticks the box of rebels vs. empires, in any form, I'm in. That story never gets old for me. And particularly right now, it's a really good time for a nice rebel alliance story again. So not only am I a fan of those, but a gigantic fan of Star Wars. I can't wait to see what they've done."

^ In the interview with Rian Johnson above, he mentions David Lean's The Passionate Friends again. It's streaming right now on Filmstruck.

Quote from: modage on December 13, 2017, 08:13:18 AM
http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/director-paul-thomas-anderson-on-phantom-thread-mortality.html

Kind of unsure if this interview really and substantially delves into spoilers, but one of the interviewer's questions about Alma and Reynolds' relationship kind of struck me as a spoiler, minor or otherwise? I might change my mind once I see the film, as what's being described could just be another spin on the basic premise...but I don't know. It's just that the question gets rather specific about the relationship and how it develops throughout the film, and I kind of wish I hadn't read that. It's my own fault for my curiosity leading me to skim the interview.

Just throwing this out here to warn others who are trying to tread carefully.

Phantom Thread with Paul Thomas Anderson and Rian Johnson (Ep. 120) (https://soundcloud.com/thedirectorscut/phantom-thread-with-paul-thomas-anderson-and-rian-johnson-ep-120)

"I know that you have romance in you," is what PT said to Jonny Greenwood <3

Quote from: jenkins on December 14, 2017, 12:43:20 PM
Phantom Thread with Paul Thomas Anderson and Rian Johnson (Ep. 120) (https://soundcloud.com/thedirectorscut/phantom-thread-with-paul-thomas-anderson-and-rian-johnson-ep-120)

Really nice interview!

Is it spoilery? the movie isnt out until Feb in my country.

PTA loved La La Land
https://theplaylist.net/paul-thomas-anderson-phantom-thread-20171215/

http://www.indiewire.com/2017/12/paul-thomas-anderson-interview-biggest-challenge-daniel-day-lewis-1201908492/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Hm. Not sure how I feel about the new close-shave PTA style. Makes him look...kind of odd. Just me?

Did anyone catch this full Sirius XM interview or know where one could find a recording of the entire thing?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6H7uDR5JhPo

If you have Sirius you can listen to it On Demand from Radio Andy show (12/13/17)

I'm listening right now, PTA has a new DVD recommendation: Skyscraper (1996) starting Anna Nicole Smith.

It makes me happy to know that PTA was reading (rereading?) Against The Day.

https://www.gq.com/story/the-dark-optimism-of-paul-thomas-anderson

Quote from: csage97 on December 20, 2017, 09:45:19 AM
It makes me happy to know that PTA was reading (rereading?) Against The Day.

https://www.gq.com/story/the-dark-optimism-of-paul-thomas-anderson

When we were talking about literary references in the other topic...I don't know if the past lives of Dodd and Freddy are an oblique reference to Against the Day, but maybe...

EDIT: I was thinking "oh, that's a great profile" while reading it, then I saw that it had been written by Zach Baron. He's a very talented writer. And he's able to write a profile without making it about himself. Which is nice sometimes.

Quote from: Drenk on December 20, 2017, 09:54:47 AM

Quote from: csage97 on December 20, 2017, 09:45:19 AM
It makes me happy to know that PTA was reading (rereading?) Against The Day.

https://www.gq.com/story/the-dark-optimism-of-paul-thomas-anderson

When we were talking about literary references in the other topic...I don't know if the past lives of Dodd and Freddy are an oblique reference to Against the Day, but maybe...

EDIT: I was thinking "oh, that's a great profile" while reading it, then I saw that it had been written by Zach Baron. He's a very talented writer. And he's able to write a profile without making it about himself. Which is nice sometimes.

That GQ interview was fantastic.

Quote from: Mogambo on December 20, 2017, 12:29:40 AM

Quote from: eward on December 19, 2017, 09:01:17 PM
Hm. Not sure how I feel about the new close-shave PTA style. Makes him look...kind of odd. Just me?

PTA looks beautiful in a beard. This clean shaven look is madness.

I'm still trying to reconcile that's Burt Reynolds without the 'tache.

Quote from: STB on December 19, 2017, 10:11:24 PM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6H7uDR5JhPo

Quote from: Sleepless on December 20, 2017, 11:00:48 AM

Quote from: Mogambo on December 20, 2017, 12:29:40 AM

Quote from: eward on December 19, 2017, 09:01:17 PM
Hm. Not sure how I feel about the new close-shave PTA style. Makes him look...kind of odd. Just me?

PTA looks beautiful in a beard. This clean shaven look is madness.

I'm still trying to reconcile that's Burt Reynolds without the 'tache.

Quote from: STB on December 19, 2017, 10:11:24 PM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6H7uDR5JhPo

Are you talking about the man in that photo with PTA? Because that's Andy Cohen.

I ripped and posted the Andy Cohen interview for ya'll. audio is pretty shoddy. enjoy.

https://youtu.be/wjZ9AfTJeeQ

 :yabbse-grin:

The Dark Optimism of Paul Thomas Anderson

https://www.gq.com/story/the-dark-optimism-of-paul-thomas-anderson

QuoteI don't want to talk about myself any fucking more," he said at one point.

But, of course, he does...

Quote from: Mogambo on December 21, 2017, 12:53:27 AM
He sure does.

He looks like Freddie Quell here.

Quote from: Rooty Poots on December 20, 2017, 12:42:56 PM
Are you talking about the man in that photo with PTA? Because that's Andy Cohen.

Yes. It was a joke.

Quote from: wilberfan on December 20, 2017, 03:58:24 PM
(Don't ever let it be said that PTA has no patience for fawning fan interviews.  I had to grit my teeth to get thru this one.)

Entertaining though! The "gay" line of questioning was particularly amusing. PTA's a good sport. Though he does seem to intentionally drop pens from time to time.

Quote from: Sleepless on December 21, 2017, 07:54:47 AM

Quote from: Rooty Poots on December 20, 2017, 12:42:56 PM
Are you talking about the man in that photo with PTA? Because that's Andy Cohen.

Yes. It was a joke.

Haha sorry to ruin it then. I can't believe I just Paul-said-not-to-mention-the-crossfades-ed myself.

Dylan Tichenor on Editing 'Phantom Thread'

http://ew.com/movies/2017/12/21/phantom-thread-daniel-day-lewis-editor/

Wow. Great moment with Mark Bridges and Krieps and Manville where we learn how DDL in character was able to influence the costumes of the movie.

https://youtu.be/RXDgWxapEhQ?t=1962

(It's around 32:50 if the link doesn't go there immediately for you.)

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-phantom-thread-paul-thomas-anderson-20171221-story.html

http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/phantom-threads-lesley-manville-q-and-a.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/movies/daniel-day-lewis-and-paul-thomas-anderson-on-how-they-created-phantom-thread.html

Quote from: modage on December 11, 2017, 03:46:10 PM
Guessing there is a great PTA interview coming up on the Channel 33 podcast as host Sean Fennessey (a legit PTA-head) tweeted a photo (https://twitter.com/SeanFennessey/status/938817698317791232) of the two of them recently. 👌🏻

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bill-simmons-podcast/id1043699613?mt=2#episodeGuid=gid%3A%2F%2Fart19-episode-locator%2FV0%2FurTV2-nk63CeDl-brDqaOAszkgj60zzosrG1ud5NPPo

Quote from: modage on December 27, 2017, 07:01:55 AM

Quote from: modage on December 11, 2017, 03:46:10 PM
Guessing there is a great PTA interview coming up on the Channel 33 podcast as host Sean Fennessey (a legit PTA-head) tweeted a photo (https://twitter.com/SeanFennessey/status/938817698317791232) of the two of them recently. 👌🏻

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bill-simmons-podcast/id1043699613?mt=2#episodeGuid=gid%3A%2F%2Fart19-episode-locator%2FV0%2FurTV2-nk63CeDl-brDqaOAszkgj60zzosrG1ud5NPPo

this is great.

Quote from: modage on December 27, 2017, 07:01:55 AM

Quote from: modage on December 11, 2017, 03:46:10 PM
Guessing there is a great PTA interview coming up on the Channel 33 podcast as host Sean Fennessey (a legit PTA-head) tweeted a photo (https://twitter.com/SeanFennessey/status/938817698317791232) of the two of them recently. 👌🏻

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bill-simmons-podcast/id1043699613?mt=2#episodeGuid=gid%3A%2F%2Fart19-episode-locator%2FV0%2FurTV2-nk63CeDl-brDqaOAszkgj60zzosrG1ud5NPPo

Oooh this one has some great stuff in it.

Are we reaching peak PTA fandom? I'm amazed at how many mainstream media personalities and outlets are fawning over him, especially considering his last two films aren't his most accessible...

Quote from: csage97 on December 20, 2017, 09:45:19 AM
It makes me happy to know that PTA was reading (rereading?) Against The Day.

https://www.gq.com/story/the-dark-optimism-of-paul-thomas-anderson

I know others enjoyed this, and maybe I'm just feeling cranky today, but, with the exception of PTA's quotes, I wasn't a huge fan. The descriptive wrapping thrown around those quotes seems to overly mythologize Anderson in a way that doesn't even necessarily correspond to his public appearances. Kind of reminds me of how Amy Adams said she expected to meet someone who was very aloof and serious prior to filming The Master and then she met PTA and he was warm, friendly, etc.

I mean, for instance, do we really know enough about this person -- a stranger who makes some movies we all enjoy -- to call him "paranoid"? Or a "recluse"? The latter word, at least, is heavily qualified in the article, which leaves me to wonder why it was even brought up at all. He is one of the most visible, voluble, and candid directors out there -- always ready to promote his work in an interesting and communicative way. We have a trove of PTA interviews. He promotes his colleagues' work, even (i.e., showing up in that Tarantino video during The Hateful Eight's press tour). He's not Terrence Malick...which is not to say there's anything wrong with Malick being reclusive -- or seeming more like one than Anderson, anyway.

The parallels drawn between whatever is going on with Day-Lewis' character in PT, and Anderson himself, also feels...kind of flimsy, or at least overstated. Then again, I haven't seen the new film. Still, Anderson has never come across as maladjusted as his characters, but, of course, we don't really know what he's actually like, so whatever people say is just...blah. I just dislike the armchair psychoanalysis of public figures outside of cases where it's warranted and substantiated (as opposed to nosy and speculative). Just stick to the films.

I should be more charitable. It's still an interesting and mostly well-done profile.

Quote from: Lewton on December 27, 2017, 06:44:23 PMI should be more charitable. It's still an interesting and mostly well-done profile.

Yes.

That podcast was great. What an incredible promo round this is.

[POSSIBLE SPOILERS]

Here's the post-screening discussion I recorded with PTA, Vicky Krieps, and Leslie Manville at the end of the first public guild screening back on Nov 24th (in Beverly Hills).  (Thanks to csage97 for his audio wizardry in cleaning up the file.)

Phantom Thread Post-Screening Discussion, Nov 24, 2017, Beverly Hills, CA (https://mega.nz/#!uxgTVY4L!OGvZZ55e1QmEa14Jb_ACqXSVVK1OtDrT__yp5Z7TDaY)

Quote from: wilberfan on December 27, 2017, 07:42:41 PM
[POSSIBLE SPOILERS]

Here's the post-screening discussion I recorded with PTA, Vicky Krieps, and Leslie Manville at the end of the first public guild screening back on Nov 24th (in Beverly Hills).  (Thanks to csage97 for his audio wizardry in cleaning up the file.)

Phantom Thread Post-Screening Discussion, Nov 24, 2017, Beverly Hills, CA (https://mega.nz/#!uxgTVY4L!OGvZZ55e1QmEa14Jb_ACqXSVVK1OtDrT__yp5Z7TDaY)

Hey, wildberfan, I'm happy to contribute any small difference it made. :) I still need to send you a further explanation of the things I did (I haven't forgotten! It's been a combo of being busy and then laziness leading to procrastination).

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/why-director-paul-thomas-anderson-may-be-the-best-hope-for-mature-hollywoodmovies/article37473794/

The Golden Globes burn is  :bravo:

"Unlike so many of his peers, Anderson has managed to extricate himself from the ravelled web of reference and transcend the anxiety of influence."

Good line.

The Bill Simmons podcast is an all-time great PTA interview. The best in many years, better then WTF. It's great to see PTA out of his cagey, vague answers mode.

The real bombshell: He uses fucking Microsoft Word to write his scripts  :shock:

Quote from: Fuzzy Dunlop on January 04, 2018, 02:27:15 PM
The Bill Simmons podcast is an all-time great PTA interview. The best in many years, better then WTF. It's great to see PTA out of his cagey, vague answers mode.

The real bombshell: He uses fucking Microsoft Word to write his scripts  :shock:

Haha I couldn't believe that either. How does he write dialogue? I assume he doesn't center align at all?

I think there are screenplay templates for Word.

Quote from: modage on January 04, 2018, 09:45:49 AM
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/why-director-paul-thomas-anderson-may-be-the-best-hope-for-mature-hollywoodmovies/article37473794/

The Golden Globes burn is  :bravo:

And so another myth has been clarified:

...one whiz kid up-and-comer finishing just his third feature spoke with confidence bordering on wild arrogance, saying he wasn't yet sure if he was "the type of guy who'd want to run the world like Spielberg or retreat to a mansion in London like Kubrick. I haven't got it figured out yet."

"I didn't say that," Paul Thomas Anderson clarifies, nearly 20 years later, now on the cusp of his eighth feature, the gothic romance Phantom Thread.

"I was being led on by a certain reporter doing the story saying, 'What future do you see? Would you like to be like Stanley Kubrick? Or would you like to be like Steven Spielberg?' And then I go, 'I don't know!'"


haha I actually pictured him saying that.

Does anyone have audio/video of the recent Q&A he did with Alan Parker?

According to the link below, PTA will be on Kimmel on the 11th.

Th 1/11: Annette Bening, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sylvan Esso

https://www.interbridge.com/lineups.html

Quote from: Fernando on January 08, 2018, 12:42:13 PM
According to the link below, PTA will be on Kimmel on the 11th.

Th 1/11: Annette Bening, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sylvan Esso

https://www.interbridge.com/lineups.html

I predicted an appearance on Colbert's show, but I'm still surprised that something like this is actually happening. He had that quick interview on Jon Stewart's show a while back, but IIRC, nothing else in the late night realm.

PTA — NERDIST PODCAST


https://nerdist.com/nerdist-podcast-paul-thomas-anderson/

https://youtu.be/wvmQkS-tg6g

http://www.vulture.com/2018/01/who-is-phantom-thread-actress-vicky-krieps.html

Interesting bit I hadn't read before. Potential Spoilers (for a deleted scene)

QuoteDo you remember what you shot on your first day?
Yes, very much. It's not in the movie anymore, but the movie used to begin with a church where Reynolds would discover Alma by chance, and it was so weird and so scary. Because we didn't have trailers, I was sitting in this little pub somewhere in the English countryside knowing, "Okay, this is my first day, my first scene." Then I got a letter from [Day-Lewis as] Reynolds, and flowers, and it was just too much. I did exactly what I just told you now: I just went very quiet and very small. I became this creature that doesn't need much and doesn't have much. She just is, and tries to just be.

I wonder if the restaurant scene was part of additional shooting later on after they decided to ditch the Church meeting scene. OR -- and this is the more interesting option -- if they just snipped this Church scene in the edit and the restaurant scene is actually their second meeting, but plays like their first. That would be fascinating and also give a totally different read on their behavior in that restaurant scene, maybe to explain why they're acting kinda puppy-dog-ish around each other is because they already met in Church. (Can anyone with the script confirm?)

Also interesting to note that The Master had a handful of different introductions between Freddie and The Master and the initial one where Joaquin sneaks on the boat and kinda meets Dodd got cut so that he doesn't meet him until he wakes up the next morning.

Quote from: modage on January 11, 2018, 06:33:55 PM
That would be fascinating and also give a totally different read on their behavior in that restaurant scene, maybe to explain why they're acting kinda puppy-dog-ish around each other is because they already met in Church. (Can anyone with the script confirm?)

The script I have is very close to the finished film, and the church scenes are unfortunately not in it.

Quote from: Drenk on January 11, 2018, 03:31:49 PM
PTA — NERDIST PODCAST
https://nerdist.com/nerdist-podcast-paul-thomas-anderson/

Listening to this now. So far the biggest bombshell is that PTA hasn't even heard Aimee Mann's last album. 😳😢

Also: SPOILERS

Quote from: PTAWanting to make a movie about a relationship, that really focused on that, and having [DDL] involved in that was just one of the couple things you have on a piece of paper. And so we talked about ideas. We had a character that was strong-willed and self-contained and possessed and cranky and was artistic by nature so it would be...The idea was about need. It was about what happens when somebody like that finds himself in a position where they find they're really in love and that they need that love."

New Interviews with Jimmy Kimmel!

A-and new new interview with PTA.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-mov-paul-thomas-anderson-phantom-thread-interview-0110-story,amp.html?__twitter_impression=true

(the c+p of the interview)

Paul Thomas Anderson is the stitcher behind 'Phantom Thread' (http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-mov-paul-thomas-anderson-phantom-thread-interview-0110-story,amp.html?__twitter_impression=true)

Q: Daniel Day-Lewis has talked about the preparation and the writing of "Phantom Thread," and how it was a lighthearted process with a lot of laughter between the two of you. And then, maybe typical for him, after shooting had finished he was profoundly sad and basically wanted to leave the profession.

A: Right. (laughs) Right. Well, I hope of course that it's a temporary feeling of melancholy or exhaustion. It's really hard for me to believe he's not going to do it again. While we worked on this movie we had a lot of ideas we thought were funny, but then at some point we stopped laughing. What we were laughing at, initially, was the character's own preposterousness. Just the kinds of things he'd say in a fight with Alma at the dinner table, for example. When he's put in a corner he doesn't want to be in, Reynolds starts fighting like a child. He's ridiculous. But when you place the character in three dimensions, and have someone else there, a real person, Alma, those words change. They become mean. And that's something else entirely, isn't it?

Q: My favorite line in that regard is when he's faced with Alma's breakfast: "I'm admiring my own gallantry for eating it the way you've prepared it."

A: Yeah. Yeah, that line is still funny to me.

Q: Also, I didn't feel "Phantom Thread" was letting Reynolds off the hook, ever. I feel as though you're well aware of just what a pill this guy is in some scenes.

A: Absolutely. A lot of the editing of the film became: How much of a (jerk) is too much of a (jerk)? It's a tricky question when you have a character like this, who puts clear boundaries around himself, and announces that he will not change, and good luck to anyone who tries to change him. We really had to keep an eye on just how alienating he can be, and make sure we never tipped an audience into checking out.

Q: The counterweight to all that is the elegance of this man's world.

A: The world these guys lived in ... it was like factory showroom living. Everything looks straight out of a magazine, or a fairy tale. The martinis they get, they're never without a coaster. That's part of the theatrics of this world. It was like being on stage, and that was very good for our story. When our heroine comes in, real flesh and blood, she doesn't want to behave like she's in a play. And that's when the story starts cooking.

Q: In the Directors Guild of America podcast you did with director Rian Johnson ("Star Wars: The Last Jedi"), you talked about the time you were laid up with the flu, at home, watching a lot of Turner Classic Movies. And that, indirectly, led to "Phantom Thread"?

A: People deal with illness in different ways. My initial response to getting sick is, (a) I'm angry, because I don't want to be slowed down, I want to have all my wits about me. And (b), pretend I'm not sick and refuse any kind of help, because to admit I need help would be admitting I was sick. Anyway. I got sick. I stayed in bed for three days, and the movies I watched were really helpful: "Rebecca," "The Story of Adele H.," the old Jean Cocteau "Beauty and the Beast." And I remember seeing how much my wife was enjoying having me relatively helpless. Then I started thinking, wouldn't it kind of ... suit her to keep me this way, you know, from time to time? (laughs)

(WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW)

Q: What I love about the first strategic poisoning in the film is that you don't really know what Alma's intentions are — if they're lethal, or just punitive.

A: Exactly right (laughs). You, know, it's just a thimbleful, so ... we shot some good close-ups we ended up taking out that made her intentions a little clearer. She's looking at the mushroom book and you see the words "not lethal," and "extreme stomach pain," that kind of thing.

(END OF SPOILERS)

Q: I know you considered David Lean's "The Passionate Friends" to be a big influence on the movie, especially the New Year's Eve scene and the scenes set in the Alps. I also caught more than a little Max Ophuls in the way you move the camera, and activate all these tight, claustrophobic physical locations.

A: Well, Ophuls is my hero when it comes to blocking the actors and blocking the camera and the dance they do together. He's just the best. By the way, have you seen "The Post"? I'd say Steven Spielberg is as good with the camera as anybody in film history. I saw it the other day, and I couldn't believe how good he is at dealing with a lot of people in that small a space. He's got 10 people in a living room, and everybody's moving around, and everything seems natural, and the camera's dancing around them, and that thing is a miracle of staging and camerawork. I can't wait to see it again, to really look under the hood and watch how he did it.

Quote from: greenberryhill on January 12, 2018, 10:09:12 AM
New Interviews with Jimmy Kimmel!

Thank God he seems very relaxed and non-awkard here.  Often appearances by non-performers can be somewhat cringe-worthy.  I'm sure the bazillion interviews he's done of the past 6 weeks have helped...  Unless, he's naturally at ease speaking in front of people--with television cameras present.

Quote from: Something Spanish on January 11, 2018, 04:52:18 PM
https://youtu.be/wvmQkS-tg6g

Interesting to hear Krips say (at about 21 min) that DDL improvised a lot as Woodcock. Especially interesting because PTA says in the Nerdist interview that there's not really any improv with DDL. Or maybe there was just less compared to the amount of stuff they tried on Vice and The Master with Joaquin.

Krieps says going into scenes like the dinner scene without an ending but PTA anticipating that she would eventually blow up at him because it had to go somewhere.

Quote from: Mogambo on January 14, 2018, 12:19:58 PM
Paul Thomas Anderson is doing an AMA on tuesday.

https://twitter.com/Phantom_Thread/status/952604850969239552

I've never participated in an AMA before. Are there any rules? Do I just post and see if he responds to my question? I'll probably ask something cinematography-related.

Quote from: csage97 on January 14, 2018, 12:26:53 PM

Quote from: Mogambo on January 14, 2018, 12:19:58 PM
Paul Thomas Anderson is doing an AMA on tuesday.

https://twitter.com/Phantom_Thread/status/952604850969239552

I've never participated in an AMA before. Are there any rules? Do I just post and see if he responds to my question? I'll probably ask something cinematography-related.

Never done one live, but my sense is we just type our questions and the guest selectively answers them. 

Got to give the dude credit:  He's working his ass off to promote this film.  I guess it's part of the way The Biz works, but it really sounds exhausting.  Wonder if it's "mandatory", ie a legal requirement of the deal signed with the financiers, etc, or if he's doing it because he's passionate about getting the film seen--or both. 

Exactly. He'll pick questions, will give answers. Will disappear forever. I like AMA. I like when writers write.

That is so awesome! Never participated in any of those live but seems like the best interview-related news we could hope for.
Any questions you are already thinking about? I wonder how many people will participate and how difficult it will be to get his answer. Hope PTA die-hards will not disappoint and that will be the first Phantom Thread interview with no questions about DDL retirement.

I've got my question(s) picked out! It's sort of a bunch rolled into one, but I'm hoping the techie in Paul comes out and he's willing to write about these things. My address will be:

What choices did the team make about lighting? Did you use tungsten indoors? Were there any points where you bounced HMIs into the house through the windows (there are some shots with an evening blue sky coming in, so maybe this was from the balance to the tungsten interior)? Was there a general approach to lighting conversation scenes (e.g., two-point, three-point, overheads, etc.)? How did the tight indoor spaces affect the decision process for lighting?

Hopefully that's not too much to ask since they're all questions about lighting. :P

PTA. Happiest when he's working.

https://amp.detroitnews.com/amp/109344926?__twitter_impression=true

Quote from: csage97 on January 14, 2018, 12:26:53 PM

Quote from: Mogambo on January 14, 2018, 12:19:58 PM
Paul Thomas Anderson is doing an AMA on tuesday.

https://twitter.com/Phantom_Thread/status/952604850969239552

I've never participated in an AMA before. Are there any rules? Do I just post and see if he responds to my question? I'll probably ask something cinematography-related.

No rules, no guarantees about what he sees or replies to. There'll be thousands of posts.

Cool. Thanks, everyone. Yeah, I'm not expecting him to even see my post if I do submit it. Looking forward to the discussion and questions, though.

The Film Stage — Lesley Manville

https://thefilmstage.com/features/lesley-manville-on-the-power-dynamics-in-phantom-thread-deleted-scenes-and-ptas-humor/

"I have a very strong idea of what I will do next," he says. "I have to corral it into existence, because there's a lot of material that I've written over the years, dating as far back as 1998-99, that's been many different things, over many different years, that now it would be great to go back to." Of course, he declines to elaborate.

*

And yet even at the height of a celebrated career, he is troubled by self-doubt. "You're watching something and you really feel like you got up to the top of the mountain," he says, referring to the moment when he completes a film, "and you cannot wait to show it to the world. And then those two hours waiting before the screening starts . . . you just wanna take it and throw it in the ocean."

I later express a degree of scepticism at his frequent displays of humility. Anderson has never made a poorly reviewed film; this summer There Will Be Blood was ranked by The New York Times as the greatest movie of the 21st century so far.

"As Kendrick Lamar says . . . " he says, drifting off and lounging back into his seat.

I finish the sentence, quoting the rapper's song from last year: "'Bitch, be humble.'"

Anderson points a finger at me and grins.


PTA in the Financial Times
https://www.ft.com/content/4745f4a8-fb14-11e7-a492-2c9be7f3120a (https://www.ft.com/content/4745f4a8-fb14-11e7-a492-2c9be7f3120a)

Quote from: max from fearless on January 19, 2018, 04:38:31 PM
Anderson has never made a poorly reviewed film;


PTA in the Financial Times
https://www.ft.com/content/4745f4a8-fb14-11e7-a492-2c9be7f3120a (https://www.ft.com/content/4745f4a8-fb14-11e7-a492-2c9be7f3120a)

Not to quibble excessively, but that can't possibly be true.

Also:  That link opens to a subscribe page for me.

Ok, here's full FT article. Sorry about the formatting but have no time now to clean that up.

QuotePaul Thomas Anderson: 'I killed the world's greatest actor?! Don't blame me for that!'
The 'Phantom Thread' filmmaker talks awards, insecurity and why he's not to blame for Daniel Day-Lewis quitting movies
Paul Thomas Anderson and I are playing a game. "Well, what's the part that you're gonna play?" says the American writer-director, scratching his head and imagining a scenario in which I'm cast in one of his films. One of today's greatest film-makers, Anderson has been responsible for arguably the best roles ever played by Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Joaquin Phoenix, Adam Sandler, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Daniel Day-Lewis. But today, over tea, coffee and a little rack of toast in a quiet corner of a central London restaurant, we're discussing how he would get a good performance out of me.
"And you live in Los Angeles at that time?" he continues, once I've selected his 2014 hippie epic Inherent Vice, and a minor role as one of its colourful array of lovable stoners. "So we don't have to do anything with your accent? You can just talk like you?"
I nod. "OK, great," he says, laughing as if reassured that the only stumbling block has now evaporated. "I'll take care of you. I won't let you be bad. I will make sure that you're good.
"But if you think you're gonna get stoned and get through it," he adds, waggling a finger at me, "then that's not gonna work."
The preternatural ability to make sure that actors are good has been the gift upon which Anderson has built a celebrated career. The reason for our breakfast is a film that features one of his finest characters to date: the balletic, twisted romance Phantom Thread, a gothic fable of love and power that marks the second collaboration between the director and Daniel Day-Lewis, and which is being widely hailed as a masterwork.
Features I'd been braced for a quiet interview. Anderson, who first came to prominence in the 1990s as part of an explosive new wave of indie film-making, is known for being rather more reserved in person than his contemporaries — a private figure in the shadow of the more cartoonish personas of Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee. But the slim 47-year-old who settles on to the plush velvet banquette opposite — scruffy black T-shirt, pelt of short, tousled grey hair — is not reserved at all. In fact, he achieves such a state of relaxation over the course of our conversation that he peppers it with all manner of expletives and inches his way down his seat incrementally to a position more appropriate for a sun-lounger.
Phantom Thread represents a radical departure from Anderson's previous body of work. For one thing, it's about fashion. ("It looks pretty!" he says, when I ask how he landed on this rather improbable subject matter.) But his is a body of work that is full of radical departures. There was the film about gambling (Hard Eight, 1996), the film about porn (Boogie Nights, 1997), the film about life, the universe and everything (Magnolia, 1999), the film where Adam Sandler's character falls in love (Punch-Drunk Love, 2002), the film about oil and capitalism (There Will Be Blood, 2007), the film that is or isn't about Scientology, depending on how you look at it (The Master, 2012) and, latterly, the 1970s odyssey Inherent Vice, a three-hour literary adaptation so ambitious that critic Anthony Lane remarked in The New Yorker at the time that "Nobody has ever turned a [Thomas] Pynchon book into a movie before, for the same reason that nobody has managed to cram the New York Philharmonic into a Ford Focus."
Up until this point, though, they've all had a subject in common: America. "Or perhaps the question is," says Anderson, when I ask why he chose to set this film in the UK as opposed to the country whose dysfunctions he's been chronicling for 20 years, "What took you so long?" He gestures around the restaurant, whose pristine white tablecloths and delicate clattering of cutlery are neatly evocative of the sniffy environs of Phantom Thread's atelier, almost as if to suggest that this place is plenty dysfunctional, too. "I've always wanted to work here." He cites an influence in the ghost stories of the early 20th-century Cambridge professor MR James, whose work he describes as "super, super British".
The Britain of Phantom Thread is cartoonishly drawn, a theatre of manners to rival the works of Julian Fellowes. Reynolds Woodcock, the character Anderson wrote with and for Day-Lewis (and whose provocative surname they conceived as an intentional innuendo), could be the director's exact opposite. A fashion designer in 1950s London, he is, in Anderson's words, "selfconsumed, self-possessed". This is some understatement. Woodcock is a monomaniac who wears a tweed jacket over his pyjamas, polices the way people eat breakfast, and fits in neatly with the director's previous antiheroes, who include a murderous oil tycoon (There Will Be Blood) and a leather-waistcoated sex guru (Magnolia).
Alamy "I think there should be, like, a red-flag sound effect when he talks that much about his mother on the first date," says Anderson, laughing about his latest protagonist, who falls in love with Alma, a young waitress played by the newcomer Vicky Krieps, and lures her into his home and his soul like some Bluebeard of Fitzrovia. "It should be like" — he waves his hands to mime an alarm going off — "ding, ding, ding!"
The character of Woodcock fits neatly into an oeuvre that has been fascinated by men behaving badly for years. But it also arrives with impeccable timing in the post-Weinstein era; an accidental allegory on gender politics for an industry finally reckoning with its own. Anderson bristles when I bring up the disgraced producer, clearly tired of the line of enquiry — "Ughh, let's not do this!" he says, grimacing. Getting nowhere, I ask instead how we should feel about Day-Lewis's character, a man who treats his lover, Alma, more like a mannequin than a human being.
"I personally think it would be hard to ask an audience to be completely sympathetic to the behaviours that [Woodcock] portrays time and time again," he says, choosing his words carefully. "I mean, he really kind of comes on strong and is so intractable."
That's one way of putting it. Is the relationship analogous to that at the centre of Anderson's 2012 film The Master, in which a young and impressionable navy veteran played by Joaquin Phoenix is coerced into joining a cult by Philip Seymour Hoffman's answer to L Ron Hubbard? "There's a similar relationship there, yeah," Anderson concedes.
Daniel Day-Lewis in 'There Will Be Blood' (2007) © Alamy But the film's content has generated less discussion than the real-life developments surrounding it: this summer, Daniel Day-Lewis announced that the role would be his last. "It wasn't so much like him walking around the room and me sitting at the typewriter, you know," says the director, when we discuss their writing process. He pauses and changes his mind. "Actually — there was some of that. There was a lot of that!"
At this point, the part looks highly likely to win Day-Lewis his fourth Oscar; Anderson explains the actor's unique brilliance by quoting one of his sound designers, who remarked upon seeing the opening moments of the film: "Holy shit, look at that guy shave!" Yet embodying Woodcock has apparently taken a toll on Day-Lewis. "All my life, I've mouthed off about how I should stop acting," he said in a November profile in W magazine, "and I don't know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do."
"It's an ongoing conversation, honestly," says Anderson, referring to his and Day-Lewis's discussions on the subject. But he says that he believes the actor will not change his mind. "I want to take it seriously because he's a friend, and he's made a very big decision with his life."
Does he ever worry that he's personally responsible for bringing about the end of Daniel DayLewis's career? "I killed the world's greatest actor?!" he exclaims, laughing and waving a piece of toast at me. "Don't f***ing blame me for that!"
Anderson's childlike animation at first seems at odds with the gravitas of his film-making. But it's a dichotomy that has characterised his work from the start. Born in Studio City, California, in 1970, the seventh of nine children, he first acquired a camera at the age of eight. "I would film everything," he says, miming his childhood self hoisting an enormous piece of equipment on to one shoulder. "I would film my brother, mostly. I think your first instinct is, like, 'Let's film something blowing up.' You know, 'Let's film something with blood in it.'"
'Boogie Nights' (1997) with Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg © Alamy His career began in earnest with a short film called The Dirk Diggler Story, a This is Spinal Tap-style mockumentary that Anderson made when he was 18 and which skewered both masculinity and the porn industry. It was later developed into his breakout hit Boogie Nights, an audacious account of the cocaine-fuelled commoditisation of sex in the 1970s. The film made stars of both Anderson and his leading man, Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg, amid no small mention of its central character's absurdly disproportionate anatomy. Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times in 1997 that the then 27-year-old director's "display of talent is as big and exuberant as skywriting"; Roger Ebert remarked that "Anderson is in love with his camera, and a bit of a show-off".
"I probably didn't even know how to stop and feel an insecurity when Boogie Nights came out," recalls Anderson, "it was all just like vinegar and attack."
But this was the spirit of the age. The 1990s represented a revelatory break for cinema, which had been mired in a decade of creative stagnation, as a wave of daring young (mostly male) filmmakers who'd grown up on Steven Spielberg and George Lucas concertinaed influences from European art cinema and pop culture to create genre-breaking hits like Pulp Fiction (1994) and Fargo (1996).
"I can remember seeing Jaws at four or five," says Anderson, recalling that his father, who worked as a voiceover artist at ABC, had brought home a rudimentary video player.
And you loved it?
"Absolutely," he says. "We were able to have movies at home, I think, before anybody else, and I had, in a butchered format, Jaws, Star Wars and Rocky, and Close Encounters. And I can remember watching them over and over and over and over again." Is there anything of those films in his own work? "I would love to think so," he sighs.
The landscape of cinema today could hardly be more different from the period in which Anderson started his career. Truly independent films are now struggling to find funding and audiences, while many argue that the popular market is saturated with superheroes. Has creativity suffered as a result? Anderson tells a story about reading film listings in a historical paper — a hobby of his. "I'm looking at an old newspaper from the 1950s," he says, "which everyone sort of looks back at and says, 'God, that was a glorious time' — and I'm like, look, I just looked at the newspaper and there's maybe three movies that I've heard of which are fantastic, that are still classics. But there's 50 movies out that I've never heard of — [and] each one looks like a bigger piece of shit than the last one!
"If you start getting into some pile of romanticising," he continues, "like, 'The 1990s, that's when it all happened and it hasn't happened since then' . . . it kind of ends up minimising anything that might be going on today, and you can't . . . " He trails off. "That's not f***ing good."
Alamy This is not to say that he doesn't have strong feelings about the way we consume movies today. "Well, yes, you know, another word for purist is 'snob,'" he laughs, when we discuss the sanctity of the big-screen experience. "So — I'm a snob." Does it bother him that some people will be watching Phantom Thread, which is luxuriously shot and for which Anderson served partly as his own cinematographer, on their phones? "I'm past that 'what the f***' moment," he sighs. "I mean, that happened a while ago. That's already become . . . it's not 'what the f***' any more."
But when we discuss the future of the cinema as a venue for collective viewing, and the risk that it may disappear entirely, he looks sceptical. "No. Could it?"
I point out that attendance is falling.
"Hmm, I don't know about that one," he says, thinking. "Tell that to Disney."
At 47, Anderson is still a relatively young man by Hollywood director standards. But with eight major films, at least four of which are widely considered to be masterpieces, he's amassed a catalogue that would easily suffice for an entire career, if not two. Is he ever concerned with
the idea of legacy? "No," he says firmly, rejecting the word, "because that would imply that there's a sort of thinking of what's come before . . . If you do feel a ticking clock, which is completely natural to do, then that means there's a bomb that's gonna go off, so you gotta go forward. That's my preoccupation: creating something again."
'Punch-Drunk Love' (2002) with Adam Sandler © Alamy Indeed, he shows no sign of slowing down. "I have a very strong idea of what I will do next," he says. "I have to corral it into existence, because there's a lot of material that I've written over the years, dating as far back as 1998-99, that's been many different things, over many different years, that now it would be great to go back to." Of course, he declines to elaborate.
What he will say is that he might consider making a TV series, an avenue increasingly explored by his contemporaries; Steven Soderbergh and the Coen brothers have shows due to come out this year. "Maybe," he says slowly, when asked if he'd ever switch to the small screen. "I'd have to come up with a good idea."
Perhaps more likely, though, is a film starring a woman; all his lead roles so far have been male — though he protests that, in his eyes, Phantom Thread "was Alma's movie, and she was our protagonist". "Tilda Swinton's pretty great," he says, when we discuss actors he'd like to use. "Any time she turns up on screen you feel a kind of force . . . There's nothing she couldn't do." A few weeks after our interview, it transpires that he also has another actress in mind: the Girls Trip breakout star Tiffany Haddish. At the New York Film Critics' Circle Awards earlier this month, his speech included a message for the actress: "I know that everyone wants to work with you, but may I please cut in front of the line?"
For now, though, he has other concerns: four children under the age of 13 with his partner, the actor Maya Rudolph. When I ask how he manages to continue making movies with a house full of young kids, he recalls visiting a house in France belonging to the artist Anselm Kiefer. "He has this gigantic home," he says, "and he built this . . . well, it kind of looks like a large rusty pipe" — he indicates with his hands a pipe as wide as a child is tall, connected to another, smaller house — "and I guess that's where the children lived, and if they wanted to come see Daddy, they'd have to walk across this rusty pipe." He bends over with laughter at the thought of this revolutionary approach to child management.
Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in 'Inherent Vice' (2014) © Alamy Anderson comes across as an artist who has achieved an impressive degree of peace with regard to his work. "It goes back to a [Robert] Altman thing," he says, referring to the late American director, when we discuss his evolution as both a film-maker and a person, "who was a sort of a mentor of mine, saying, 'Look — you get a group of people together, build a sandcastle, you have a great time doing it, and then at the end of the day, you all sit back and watch the tide come in and take your sandcastle away.'"
And yet even at the height of a celebrated career, he is troubled by self-doubt. "You're watching something and you really feel like you got up to the top of the mountain," he says, referring to the moment when he completes a film, "and you cannot wait to show it to the world. And then those two hours waiting before the screening starts . . . you just wanna take it and throw it in the ocean."
I later express a degree of scepticism at his frequent displays of humility. Anderson has never made a poorly reviewed film; this summer There Will Be Blood was ranked by The New York Times as the greatest movie of the 21st century so far.
"As Kendrick Lamar says . . . " he says, drifting off and lounging back into his seat.
I finish the sentence, quoting the rapper's song from last year: "'Bitch, be humble.'"
Anderson points a finger at me and grins.
The breakfasters in the restaurant are sloping off to be replaced by the lunchtime crowd, and the director has a long day ahead of him. I ask him a question that's been playing on my mind since we met. He's the only film-maker ever to win the directing prizes at all the major European festivals — Cannes, Venice and Berlin — but, despite 19 nominations for his films, he's never personally won an Oscar. Does he care about Academy Awards?
"That's like a trick question!" he says, laughing."You know . . . " He takes a long pause, thinking, and then answers lightly: "I'm more of a Golden Globe man myself."

[I cleaned it up for you (us).  Thanks for the post.]

Paul Thomas Anderson: 'I killed the world's greatest actor?! Don't blame me for that!'
The 'Phantom Thread' filmmaker talks awards, insecurity and why he's not to blame for Daniel Day-Lewis quitting movies.

Paul Thomas Anderson and I are playing a game. "Well, what's the part that you're gonna play?" says the American writer-director, scratching his head and imagining a scenario in which I'm cast in one of his films. One of today's greatest film-makers, Anderson has been responsible for arguably the best roles ever played by Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Joaquin Phoenix, Adam Sandler, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Daniel Day-Lewis. But today, over tea, coffee and a little rack of toast in a quiet corner of a central London restaurant, we're discussing how he would get a good performance out of me.

"And you live in Los Angeles at that time?" he continues, once I've selected his 2014 hippie epic Inherent Vice, and a minor role as one of its colourful array of lovable stoners. "So we don't have to do anything with your accent? You can just talk like you?"
I nod. "OK, great," he says, laughing as if reassured that the only stumbling block has now evaporated. "I'll take care of you. I won't let you be bad. I will make sure that you're good.

"But if you think you're gonna get stoned and get through it," he adds, waggling a finger at me, "then that's not gonna work."
The preternatural ability to make sure that actors are good has been the gift upon which Anderson has built a celebrated career. The reason for our breakfast is a film that features one of his finest characters to date: the balletic, twisted romance Phantom Thread, a gothic fable of love and power that marks the second collaboration between the director and Daniel Day-Lewis, and which is being widely hailed as a masterwork.

I'd been braced for a quiet interview. Anderson, who first came to prominence in the 1990s as part of an explosive new wave of indie film-making, is known for being rather more reserved in person than his contemporaries — a private figure in the shadow of the more cartoonish personas of Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee. But the slim 47-year-old who settles on to the plush velvet banquette opposite — scruffy black T-shirt, pelt of short, tousled grey hair — is not reserved at all. In fact, he achieves such a state of relaxation over the course of our conversation that he peppers it with all manner of expletives and inches his way down his seat incrementally to a position more appropriate for a sun-lounger.

Phantom Thread represents a radical departure from Anderson's previous body of work. For one thing, it's about fashion. ("It looks pretty!" he says, when I ask how he landed on this rather improbable subject matter.) But his is a body of work that is full of radical departures. There was the film about gambling (Hard Eight, 1996), the film about porn (Boogie Nights, 1997), the film about life, the universe and everything (Magnolia, 1999), the film where Adam Sandler's character falls in love (Punch-Drunk Love, 2002), the film about oil and capitalism (There Will Be Blood, 2007), the film that is or isn't about Scientology, depending on how you look at it (The Master, 2012) and, latterly, the 1970s odyssey Inherent Vice, a three-hour literary adaptation so ambitious that critic Anthony Lane remarked in The New Yorker at the time that "Nobody has ever turned a [Thomas] Pynchon book into a movie before, for the same reason that nobody has managed to cram the New York Philharmonic into a Ford Focus."

Up until this point, though, they've all had a subject in common: America. "Or perhaps the question is," says Anderson, when I ask why he chose to set this film in the UK as opposed to the country whose dysfunctions he's been chronicling for 20 years, "What took you so long?" He gestures around the restaurant, whose pristine white tablecloths and delicate clattering of cutlery are neatly evocative of the sniffy environs of Phantom Thread's atelier, almost as if to suggest that this place is plenty dysfunctional, too. "I've always wanted to work here." He cites an influence in the ghost stories of the early 20th-century Cambridge professor MR James, whose work he describes as "super, super British".

The Britain of Phantom Thread is cartoonishly drawn, a theatre of manners to rival the works of Julian Fellowes. Reynolds Woodcock, the character Anderson wrote with and for Day-Lewis (and whose provocative surname they conceived as an intentional innuendo), could be the director's exact opposite. A fashion designer in 1950s London, he is, in Anderson's words, "selfconsumed, self-possessed". This is some understatement. Woodcock is a monomaniac who wears a tweed jacket over his pyjamas, polices the way people eat breakfast, and fits in neatly with the director's previous antiheroes, who include a murderous oil tycoon (There Will Be Blood) and a leather-waistcoated sex guru (Magnolia).

"I think there should be, like, a red-flag sound effect when he talks that much about his mother on the first date," says Anderson, laughing about his latest protagonist, who falls in love with Alma, a young waitress played by the newcomer Vicky Krieps, and lures her into his home and his soul like some Bluebeard of Fitzrovia. "It should be like" — he waves his hands to mime an alarm going off — "ding, ding, ding!"

The character of Woodcock fits neatly into an oeuvre that has been fascinated by men behaving badly for years. But it also arrives with impeccable timing in the post-Weinstein era; an accidental allegory on gender politics for an industry finally reckoning with its own. Anderson bristles when I bring up the disgraced producer, clearly tired of the line of enquiry — "Ughh, let's not do this!" he says, grimacing. Getting nowhere, I ask instead how we should feel about Day-Lewis's character, a man who treats his lover, Alma, more like a mannequin than a human being.

"I personally think it would be hard to ask an audience to be completely sympathetic to the behaviours that [Woodcock] portrays time and time again," he says, choosing his words carefully. "I mean, he really kind of comes on strong and is so intractable."
That's one way of putting it. Is the relationship analogous to that at the centre of Anderson's 2012 film The Master, in which a young and impressionable navy veteran played by Joaquin Phoenix is coerced into joining a cult by Philip Seymour Hoffman's answer to L Ron Hubbard? "There's a similar relationship there, yeah," Anderson concedes.

But the film's content has generated less discussion than the real-life developments surrounding it: this summer, Daniel Day-Lewis announced that the role would be his last. "It wasn't so much like him walking around the room and me sitting at the typewriter, you know," says the director, when we discuss their writing process. He pauses and changes his mind. "Actually — there was some of that. There was a lot of that!"

At this point, the part looks highly likely to win Day-Lewis his fourth Oscar; Anderson explains the actor's unique brilliance by quoting one of his sound designers, who remarked upon seeing the opening moments of the film: "Holy shit, look at that guy shave!" Yet embodying Woodcock has apparently taken a toll on Day-Lewis. "All my life, I've mouthed off about how I should stop acting," he said in a November profile in W magazine, "and I don't know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do."

"It's an ongoing conversation, honestly," says Anderson, referring to his and Day-Lewis's discussions on the subject. But he says that he believes the actor will not change his mind. "I want to take it seriously because he's a friend, and he's made a very big decision with his life."

Does he ever worry that he's personally responsible for bringing about the end of Daniel DayLewis's career? "I killed the world's greatest actor?!" he exclaims, laughing and waving a piece of toast at me. "Don't f***ing blame me for that!"

Anderson's childlike animation at first seems at odds with the gravitas of his film-making. But it's a dichotomy that has characterised his work from the start. Born in Studio City, California, in 1970, the seventh of nine children, he first acquired a camera at the age of eight. "I would film everything," he says, miming his childhood self hoisting an enormous piece of equipment on to one shoulder. "I would film my brother, mostly. I think your first instinct is, like, 'Let's film something blowing up.' You know, 'Let's film something with blood in it.'"

His career began in earnest with a short film called The Dirk Diggler Story, a This is Spinal Tap-style mockumentary that Anderson made when he was 18 and which skewered both masculinity and the porn industry. It was later developed into his breakout hit Boogie Nights, an audacious account of the cocaine-fuelled commoditisation of sex in the 1970s. The film made stars of both Anderson and his leading man, Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg, amid no small mention of its central character's absurdly disproportionate anatomy. Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times in 1997 that the then 27-year-old director's "display of talent is as big and exuberant as skywriting"; Roger Ebert remarked that "Anderson is in love with his camera, and a bit of a show-off".
"I probably didn't even know how to stop and feel an insecurity when Boogie Nights came out," recalls Anderson, "it was all just like vinegar and attack."

But this was the spirit of the age. The 1990s represented a revelatory break for cinema, which had been mired in a decade of creative stagnation, as a wave of daring young (mostly male) filmmakers who'd grown up on Steven Spielberg and George Lucas concertinaed influences from European art cinema and pop culture to create genre-breaking hits like Pulp Fiction (1994) and Fargo (1996).

"I can remember seeing Jaws at four or five," says Anderson, recalling that his father, who worked as a voiceover artist at ABC, had brought home a rudimentary video player.

And you loved it?

"Absolutely," he says. "We were able to have movies at home, I think, before anybody else, and I had, in a butchered format, Jaws, Star Wars and Rocky, and Close Encounters. And I can remember watching them over and over and over and over again." Is there anything of those films in his own work? "I would love to think so," he sighs.

The landscape of cinema today could hardly be more different from the period in which Anderson started his career. Truly independent films are now struggling to find funding and audiences, while many argue that the popular market is saturated with superheroes. Has creativity suffered as a result? Anderson tells a story about reading film listings in a historical paper — a hobby of his. "I'm looking at an old newspaper from the 1950s," he says, "which everyone sort of looks back at and says, 'God, that was a glorious time' — and I'm like, look, I just looked at the newspaper and there's maybe three movies that I've heard of which are fantastic, that are still classics. But there's 50 movies out that I've never heard of — [and] each one looks like a bigger piece of shit than the last one!

"If you start getting into some pile of romanticising," he continues, "like, 'The 1990s, that's when it all happened and it hasn't happened since then' . . . it kind of ends up minimizing anything that might be going on today, and you can't . . . " He trails off. "That's not f***ing good."

This is not to say that he doesn't have strong feelings about the way we consume movies today. "Well, yes, you know, another word for purist is 'snob,'" he laughs, when we discuss the sanctity of the big-screen experience. "So — I'm a snob." Does it bother him that some people will be watching Phantom Thread, which is luxuriously shot and for which Anderson served partly as his own cinematographer, on their phones? "I'm past that 'what the f***' moment," he sighs. "I mean, that happened a while ago. That's already become . . . it's not 'what the f***' any more."

But when we discuss the future of the cinema as a venue for collective viewing, and the risk that it may disappear entirely, he looks sceptical. "No. Could it?"

I point out that attendance is falling.

"Hmm, I don't know about that one," he says, thinking. "Tell that to Disney."

At 47, Anderson is still a relatively young man by Hollywood director standards. But with eight major films, at least four of which are widely considered to be masterpieces, he's amassed a catalogue that would easily suffice for an entire career, if not two. Is he ever concerned with the idea of legacy? "No," he says firmly, rejecting the word, "because that would imply that there's a sort of thinking of what's come before . . . If you do feel a ticking clock, which is completely natural to do, then that means there's a bomb that's gonna go off, so you gotta go forward. That's my preoccupation: creating something again."

Indeed, he shows no sign of slowing down. "I have a very strong idea of what I will do next," he says. "I have to corral it into existence, because there's a lot of material that I've written over the years, dating as far back as 1998-99, that's been many different things, over many different years, that now it would be great to go back to." Of course, he declines to elaborate.
What he will say is that he might consider making a TV series, an avenue increasingly explored by his contemporaries; Steven Soderbergh and the Coen brothers have shows due to come out this year. "Maybe," he says slowly, when asked if he'd ever switch to the small screen. "I'd have to come up with a good idea."

Perhaps more likely, though, is a film starring a woman; all his lead roles so far have been male — though he protests that, in his eyes, Phantom Thread "was Alma's movie, and she was our protagonist". "Tilda Swinton's pretty great," he says, when we discuss actors he'd like to use. "Any time she turns up on screen you feel a kind of force . . . There's nothing she couldn't do." A few weeks after our interview, it transpires that he also has another actress in mind: the Girls Trip breakout star Tiffany Haddish. At the New York Film Critics' Circle Awards earlier this month, his speech included a message for the actress: "I know that everyone wants to work with you, but may I please cut in front of the line?"

For now, though, he has other concerns: four children under the age of 13 with his partner, the actor Maya Rudolph. When I ask how he manages to continue making movies with a house full of young kids, he recalls visiting a house in France belonging to the artist Anselm Kiefer. "He has this gigantic home," he says, "and he built this . . . well, it kind of looks like a large rusty pipe" — he indicates with his hands a pipe as wide as a child is tall, connected to another, smaller house — "and I guess that's where the children lived, and if they wanted to come see Daddy, they'd have to walk across this rusty pipe." He bends over with laughter at the thought of this revolutionary approach to child management.

Anderson comes across as an artist who has achieved an impressive degree of peace with regard to his work. "It goes back to a [Robert] Altman thing," he says, referring to the late American director, when we discuss his evolution as both a film-maker and a person, "who was a sort of a mentor of mine, saying, 'Look — you get a group of people together, build a sandcastle, you have a great time doing it, and then at the end of the day, you all sit back and watch the tide come in and take your sandcastle away.'"

And yet even at the height of a celebrated career, he is troubled by self-doubt. "You're watching something and you really feel like you got up to the top of the mountain," he says, referring to the moment when he completes a film, "and you cannot wait to show it to the world. And then those two hours waiting before the screening starts . . . you just wanna take it and throw it in the ocean."
I later express a degree of scepticism at his frequent displays of humility. Anderson has never made a poorly reviewed film; this summer There Will Be Blood was ranked by The New York Times as the greatest movie of the 21st century so far.

"As Kendrick Lamar says . . . " he says, drifting off and lounging back into his seat.

I finish the sentence, quoting the rapper's song from last year: "'Bitch, be humble.'"

Anderson points a finger at me and grins.

The breakfasters in the restaurant are sloping off to be replaced by the lunchtime crowd, and the director has a long day ahead of him. I ask him a question that's been playing on my mind since we met. He's the only film-maker ever to win the directing prizes at all the major European festivals — Cannes, Venice and Berlin — but, despite 19 nominations for his films, he's never personally won an Oscar. Does he care about Academy Awards?

"That's like a trick question!" he says, laughing."You know . . . " He takes a long pause, thinking, and then answers lightly: "I'm more of a Golden Globe man myself."

Full transcript here (https://www.filminquiry.com/phantom-thread-qa-paul-thomas-anderson/)

Spoilers abound, but that interview is chockfull of info he hasn't really touched on yet...really great stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cEtLfYOEIU

Timeout London interview with PTA:  (With a too-click-baity title.) 

https://www.timeout.com/london/film/does-daniel-use-emojis-no-hes-got-a-flip-phone-paul-thomas-anderson-on-phantom-thread

Quote'Toxic masculinity' is a phrase that's cropped up about Reynolds. This idea of
a powerful man abusing his status.
'Toxic masculinity is a very modern phrase, and you can apply it, but this is more like arrested development. His mother has treated him as the golden boy, but what happens when that boy grows up and he's still acting like a child?'

I like this photo:

^^ Badass Motherfucking BigShit Auteur Pose  :bravo: :yabbse-thumbup: :yabbse-thumbup: :yabbse-thumbup:

Interview with Dylan Tichenor: https://www.provideocoalition.com/aotc-phantom-thread

QuoteHULLFISH: There's a scene where Cyril says to Reynolds, "I think you should go to the country." And there's what could be considered shoe leather. But of course, it serves a purpose. Could you talk a little bit about those scenes of him driving out to the country instead of just cutting straight to where he's sitting in the breakfast restaurant?
TICHENOR: We couldn't just cut to that, though it was considered. There's more missing from that section than actually. There're several other scenes that were in between, and as usual, we had several different versions. To be quite honest there were versions that were intercut with Alma getting ready to go to work. There were versions where Reynolds first sees Alma in a church. There were lots of different ways that that worked. The driving was always something that we liked for Reynolds' character because it was cold and lonely. It was manly and aloof. And it just sort of visually, cinematically, represented him – and the car was cool and the shots turned out really well. So there were many versions of that.

PTA and Jonny Greenwood will be on the Adam Buxton podcast, available February 9th.

For any non-British folk - this is a good thing! Buxton is friends with Jonny so it should be a good conversation.

That's amazing! The two-part Buxton podcast with Greenwood is one of the coolest conversations with a musician/artist I've ever listed to. Might be the best thing we get during that press tour.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/01/paul-thomas-anderson-you-can-tell-a-lot-about-a-person-by-what-they-order-for-breakfast

Empire Podcast (https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/empire-podcast-298-paul-thomas-anderson/) (interview begins around 33:40)

Interviewed on BBC Radio last week (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05w62px)

He mentions this as his go-to song to write to:

Anyone out there with a subscription that can copy/paste this one up?

https://www.businesspost.ie/magazine/threading-the-tale-407956

[SPOILERS]
ART OF THE CUT with Dylan Tichenor, ACE on Phantom Thread

https://www.provideocoalition.com/aotc-phantom-thread

(In all of the deserved huzzahs for the writing, acting, directing, costume design, score, costuming, etc, I think Dylan is getting way too little attention.)

^^ That's a terrific interview!

From the Santa Barbara Film Festival



There's also a short solo interview with PT in two parts, here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glSAIcw5nz4) and here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03t815q7ZFk), but it's mostly a repeat of what's been asked elsewhere.

I just watched the group interview. Pretty good. GDT's shout-out to PDL and Barry's suit: awesome.

Peele's admiration of that particular moment from Phantom Thread is great and, yeah, that scene is out of this world...for reasons that I similarly can't quite put into words yet.

Gerwig picked a really great scene to praise, too.

PT on the Adam Buxton Podcast (https://soundcloud.com/adam-buxton/ep63a-paul-thomas-anderson) (starts @ 6:45)

&

Jonny Greenwood on the Adam Buxton Podcast (https://soundcloud.com/adam-buxton/ep-63b-jonny-greenwood-phantom-thread)

Haven't listened to the Greenwood yet, but the PTA Buxton interview is just so much fun. The rambly nature of the show really suits him. So much more entertaining and enlightening than the more formal shit. This has been by far the best PTA press tour...

Paul interviews/gets interviewed by middle schoolers.



What a sweet man!

That Buxton podcast is great! By the way, during the intro he mentions Kermode and Mayo interview on BBC. Has that been posted here?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09nvpcz

Here is the masterclass with PTA. It's better to watch it after you've seen the movie. Well, you can't understand the Qs, but the As kind of give the Qs away.


https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/073343-011-A/lecon-de-cinema-avec-paul-thomas-anderson/

OMG. He is using the same glasse that Reynolds uses  :shock:

We joke, but Reynolds is probably the closest analog to PTA we've had yet.

Quote from: Drenk on February 13, 2018, 09:36:50 AM
Here is the masterclass with PTA.

https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/073343-011-A/lecon-de-cinema-avec-paul-thomas-anderson/ (https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/073343-011-A/lecon-de-cinema-avec-paul-thomas-anderson/)

As neither actor nor director, I found the following two answers particularly interesting in that they offer a glimpse into the dynamics between actors (and their director)--or at least on a PTA set:

Quote
Whatever nerves she [Vicky Krieps] might have had acting with Daniel, it took a week before he came to me and he said, "Oh my God, she makes me so nervous. She's so good."  I knew just what he meant.  She was not afraid to run the rhythm of a scene. She didn't let him dictate how it was going to move.  And she would stay back and you could see it challenging him.  And I'd never seen anybody do that before with Daniel. It was like a boxer getting punches that he'd not seen coming. It was amazing.
Just to give you an example of what I mean by the rhythm of the scene when he came and said that after all, is that they had a scene very early on when he takes her back to the house and they're sitting by the fire, and they're both asking each other questions.  It was Vicky's line, and she just took a pause that you could drive a truck through and you could see she just let the entire thing sit, and I could see on Daniel's face he's thinking, 'Is she fucking with me? Has she forgotten her line?  What is happening?'.  And right when he'd had enough and he was about to break, she delivered her line of saying, 'Why aren't you married?'.  And that's just a specific example of what I mean by controlling the rhythm of a scene.

Quote
What I know is what actors don't want.  They don't want to have a lot of chit-chat or dialogue or endless conversations on the set or while you're trying to do something.  Nobody wants it. The crew doesn't want it, the actors don't want it, I don't want to do it.  So to avoid those things, you take time to do it privately with the script; try to not over talk it or over think it—leave some mystery to happen and just create a scenario that is quiet, delicate and productive.  It's light. We take the work seriously, but we don't take ourselves seriously and just get on with it.   That's been the thing that I've seen that I respond to, that actors respond to, and everybody's happiest.

Do you think most actors/directors/crew would agree with him, here? Or are there just too many variables?

I've never encountered an interview with one of PTA's producers.  Found her perspective quite interesting.  (She also addresses a little of the financing side that we were wondering about recently.)


'Phantom Thread' producer JoAnne Sellar on Paul Thomas Anderson: "He's mellowed a lot"

https://www.screendaily.com/features/phantom-thread-producer-joanne-sellar-on-paul-thomas-anderson-hes-mellowed-a-lot/5126403.article



London-born, Oscar-nominated producer JoAnne Sellar began her career in the late 1980s making music videos, before producing Richard Stanley's first two features Hardware and Dust Devil. She moved to Hollywood soon after to produce Clive Barker's Lord Of Illusions and George Sluizer's ill-fated Dark Blood, which River Phoenix had been shooting when he died in 1993. It was around this time that Sellar met a young writer/director named Paul Thomas Anderson who was making his 1996 debut feature Hard Eight, aka Sydney. The co-producer on Hard Eight was Sellar's now-husband Daniel Lupi, and all three hit it off to the degree that Anderson showed her and Lupi the script for his next film, Boogie Nights, "which I flipped out for", and she was asked to produce it.


"I think he had a really hard time with Sydney and he got locked out of the cutting room, so he'd gone into Boogie Nights being kind of, 'It's not going to happen a second time,'" she recalls. "It took a lot of time for him to build his trust with me; that I wasn't out to screw him. It was quite the opposite. I had huge respect for him as a writer-director, and all I wanted to do was make the best film possible — his film."


Since then, Anderson has written and directed Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice and Phantom Thread — with Sellar producing them all. Their collaboration, she says, begins at the development stage, continues through production, and extends to marketing and release.


"Paul will talk about the project early on," says Sellar. "He'll show me rough drafts. He'll show me scenes. I'll comment. We'll go back and forth on stuff. We'll start doing research together. And when he's got a draft we all feel is good enough to send out to financiers, usually between him and his agent we'll come up with where we're going to send it."


Long shooting schedule
The partnership is based on trust and familiarity. "Half the time I know what he wants without even talking to him, or he knows I'm taking care of something without even having to say to me, because it's just what I do," says the producer. "Once you work with someone for a long time, there's a shorthand. My job, and my husband's job, is to get as much on the screen for Paul as possible. He likes a long shooting schedule, he likes to take time filming stuff, doing reshoots and retakes, and we build that into the way we put the project together, which is a luxury a lot of directors can't afford. We make our films very fiscally [responsible], knowing that any money put aside is for Paul to do these extra days if he needs them, or reshoots. Because that is part of his process."


It is a process that has evolved over time. "He's mellowed out a lot," says Sellar. "He's gone from being a very young director to becoming much more confident in his directing, as the years have gone on. For his first couple of movies, he was so clear on exactly what he wanted, in terms of every shot. He was very, very structured. Whereas now he's completely different. He doesn't do shot lists. It's all much more organic, allowing things to come up on the day, trying different things. It kind of changed around Punch-Drunk [Love]."


Although Sellar and Lupi are both credited as producers, Lupi is more of an old-fashioned line producer, performing the function for Steven Spielberg on Lincoln, Bridge Of Spies and the upcoming Ready Player One. "[Lupi is] much more the budget, the crew, the deal making, the nuts and bolts. We share the producer credit because we've been doing it for so long and we cover for each other on different things."


Day to day, both Sellar and Lupi are present on set, but the latter leaves once production has wrapped. "I stay on all through post-production and the whole marketing and release," she says. "Paul is super meticulous and very, very concerned that he sees everything that's put out into the world that has his name on it.


"I am talking about every ad, every trailer — he gets enormously involved in the whole marketing of a project. Everything is run through him, which means it is run through me, initially. Nothing goes out without his stamp being on it."


That autonomy stems from the fact Anderson's films do not cost much, relatively speaking. "Paul's in a very lucky, privileged position because he's a step up from an indie and a step down from a studio," she says. "Our budgets are not crazy amounts. I'm sure if they were bigger he would have more interference, but we've always managed to do [them] within the allotted amount. We're pretty much left alone to make the movie how he wants to make it."


Both Boogie Nights and Magnolia were made by New Line, but since then a different financier has been behind each film: ony (Punch-Drunk Love), Paramount Vantage (There Will Be Blood), Annapurna Pictures (The Master) and Warner Bros (Inherent Vice). With a reported budget of $35m, Phantom Thread was, ultimately, financed by Focus Features/Universal, although Annapurna's Megan Ellison who, as with The Master, is a producer on Phantom Thread, paid for the script's development and cash-flowed the project.


"This one was so much easier than I thought it would be," says Sellar. "We sent it out to two or three people who were all really interested and then we had two main suitors. [Universal Pictures chairman] Donna Langley is very close to Paul. We nearly did There Will Be Blood with them, so I think they had been looking for something to work on together. Then when we delivered the movie to Focus, they repaid Annapurna. It was a negative pick-up, as you say."


Aside from producing 2001's The Anniversary Party for Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sellar has worked exclusively with Anderson since Boogie Nights. "It's all-consuming, from the minute he's got a draft to the point of this film coming out in the cinema," she explains. "There's not much time to be doing other stuff.


"Paul takes big gaps between pictures, and during that time, I had two kids, and I made a personal choice of not doing anything in between. Between Inherent Vice and [Phantom Thread], I went to work with Annapurna for nearly a year, because Megan needed someone to run her film production side, which was great. But I was waiting for Paul to write this."


In the end, Phantom Thread garnered six Oscar nominations, including best director and best picture — Sellar's second best picture nomination after There Will Be Blood. "It was a total shock," she says. "We hoped for Daniel Day-Lewis, [costume designer] Mark Bridges and [composer] Jonny Greenwood, but the picture and directing ones were not expected. We were in none of the guild run-ups.


"We didn't get a PGA nomination [in best picture]. Paul didn't get any WGA love, didn't get any DGA love, so it was totally unexpected and it's amazing for the film because we've just gone wide in the US. To be able to announce we've got six nominations helps so much."

Quote from: wilberfan on February 13, 2018, 02:52:55 PM

I've never encountered an interview with one of PTA's producers.  Found her perspective quite interesting.  (She also addresses a little of the financing side that we were wondering about recently.)

Yeah, joanne or daniel lupi interviews are very rare. Here are a couple of videos i remember from the Inherent Vice days.

Quote from: wilberfan on February 13, 2018, 02:52:55 PM
I've never encountered an interview with one of PTA's producers.

Yeah she's great. I also interviewed her a few years ago for The Master.

http://cigsandredvines.blogspot.com/2013/02/interview-making-master-with-producer.html

Quote from: wilder on February 09, 2018, 05:02:28 AM
PT on the Adam Buxton Podcast (https://soundcloud.com/adam-buxton/ep63a-paul-thomas-anderson) (starts @ 6:45)

I finally watched The 'Burbs recently, and this is partly due to PTA praising Tom Hanks' earlier, comedic performances during this interview. I don't think he mentioned this particular movie, but I'm assuming he's a fan.

Quote from: Lewton on February 15, 2018, 09:19:19 PM
I finally watched The 'Burbs recently, and this is partly due to PTA praising Tom Hanks' earlier, comedic performances during this interview. I don't think he mentioned this particular movie, but I'm assuming he's a fan.

I just rewatched A League of Their Own last night and holy hell, Tom Hanks is on fire in that one.

Quote from: Fuzzy Dunlop on February 15, 2018, 09:44:14 PM

Quote from: Lewton on February 15, 2018, 09:19:19 PM
I finally watched The 'Burbs recently, and this is partly due to PTA praising Tom Hanks' earlier, comedic performances during this interview. I don't think he mentioned this particular movie, but I'm assuming he's a fan.

I just rewatched A League of Their Own last night and holy hell, Tom Hanks is on fire in that one.

I really want to watch that one. Just a few days ago, before watching Apollo 13 and The 'Burbs, the earliest Hanks movie I had seen was Saving Private Ryan. I clearly have a bit to catch up on...

I saw Cast Away again recently and dear God did that kick some dirt in my eyes. Tom Hanks is a national treasure.

New interview! *With some SPOILERS i guess*

There is some kind of an interview here. It's a Twitter link, I don't know if there is another way to see it.

https://twitter.com/VanityFairFR/status/964509257352798209

I'm pretty sure I have seen and read more interviews with Anderson these last few weeks than ever before, combined for all the previous films. Which surely has a lot to do with the fact that he talks a lot about Phantom Thread. I must admit that while he is by far my favorite director I have paid not much attention to the man himself, as a person. Sure, I watched some interviews but if I had to say anything about him even 2-3 years ago I would probably say he is a good talker, a bit self-important maybe, in a way I kind of like or at least understand in artists I respect. And maybe that he doesn't like to do press and generally talk about his work.

Anyway, is it just me or has he changed a lot in recent years? I mean, what was the press conference for the Master when both him and Phoenix didn't even care to pretend they gave a shit? Toronto I guess. I tried to google it now and came across that one: https://vimeo.com/57791230. Haven't seen that before but the annoyed/bored body language in first 30 sec show exactly what I mean. Five years later and he seems so much more friendly, for a lack of a better word. More mature? Mellow? Answering the questions (which are not much different and less repetitive than they were for the Master) not just with more patience but apparently genuine enthusiasm. Talking about personal stuff, children etc. It's not just about his answers and attitude to interviews. Seems like a different person sometimes. More humble also. I know the guy is 47 now but the change is striking to me. Even visually. He has gotten older, hasn't he?

Sorry if I digress to much.

Quote from: d on February 16, 2018, 02:15:49 PM
Five years later and he seems so much more friendly, for a lack of a better word. More mature? Mellow? Answering the questions (which are not much different and less repetitive than they were for the Master) not just with more patience but apparently genuine enthusiasm. Talking about personal stuff, children etc. It's not just about his answers and attitude to interviews. Seems like a different person sometimes. More humble also. I know the guy is 47 now but the change is striking to me. Even visually. He has gotten older, hasn't he?

This tour has to be the most press he's ever done in his life for any given film (or combined, as you mention).  He's certainly older. Never had any kids myself, but that has to (hopefully) mature a person?    I also wonder if it finally dawned on him (or maybe impressed upon him by the money lenders?) that if this film was going to do better at the box office than the last two (or especially the last one), perhaps he better get out there...?  Or, as you suggest, maybe he's honestly more enthusiastic about this film.  It certainly deserves it.

I don't think he is more enthusiastic about Phantom Thread. Well, maybe he is but that's not what I meant. Sorry, English not being by first language may be the issue here. My wild guess is he puts the Master and/or TWBB above the new one. He named The Master as the one he is most proud of during AMA, right? I just think he seems more enthusiastic towards the idea of talking to other people now about not just his work but also his family etc. Much more engaged in the conversation in a humble, sincere way. I doubt it's forced or faked. I bet the amount of press he does has little influence on the box office, anyway.

As for the kids and getting older, the change still seems sudden to me. It's only 3-5 year difference, he already had kids back then and he's changed from a bit self-important, somehow difficult and confident genius to friendly, humble, almost shy (while still swearing a lot;)) family man who happens to make great movies for a living.

Quote from: wilberfan on February 16, 2018, 02:52:15 PMI also wonder if it finally dawned on him (or maybe impressed upon him by the money lenders?) that if this film was going to do better at the box office than the last two (or especially the last one), perhaps he better get out there...? 

I'm convinced this is it.

I think there are many factors that influenced him. Of course he is more mature now. I remember the press days for The Master, he looked kind of tired or bored with some questions and some of the interviewers. But i think he was really tired of explaining that the film wasn´t about Scientology.

For Inherent Vice, he was more relaxed and funny. Maybe as a reflect of the film´s mood? I remember that he even danced during the fisrt seconds of the NYFF press conference. He seemed really happy!

Watch second: 00:45


And now that he is doing the press for Phantom Thread he looks chill and calm, and gentle, maybe he is just in a good mood. Happy for the new joint with DDL.

Finally i suppose the marketing team of every Studio has an influence and Focus is doing a very interesting campaign i think. Maybe they told him to be more interactive with the fans and they came up with the idea of the Q&A for Twiitter or that kind of stuff.

There are a number of enthusiastic, happy Master/Vice interviews, as I recall: especially the PTA NYFF Masterclass, the Vice NYFF press conference, that really long Q and A he did in Australia for The Master, Maron, and the Spielberg/Scorsese/Demme interviews he conducted in that same era. The initial grumpiness of that TIFF interview for Master did seem a bit over the top, but as I recall it was a pretty annoying, lazy, baity Scientology question.

Speaking of past interviews...

I recently returned to The Master's press conference from Venice. PTA mentions that he had asked Joaquin Phoenix to join many of his previous movies and had been turned down. I remember learning about this around that time and I'm still curious about it. Was he offered a part in TWBB, I wonder? Joaquin and DDL in the same movie just seems like such an irresistible and exciting prospect. I really wish we had been given an opportunity to see that happen (not necessarily in TWBB, which is obviously perfect as is, but in a new PTA movie).

I also re-watched a video from the 2008 San Sebastian Film Festival and PTA talks about how he's not sure what he's going to do next, but that he's planning on working with Day-Lewis again in a few years. That didn't pan out quite as quickly as he indicated there, but that's not really surprising as things like that shift around all the time.

TWBB is the first and only time I ever thought he seemed truly joyless doing press, but I felt it profoundly so. I don't know what was in the water at that time in his life, especially because he seems to reflect on it so fondly now, but I just remember feeling that he was presenting himself as completely closed off, and even feeling like the experience of that production had sapped the light in his eyes slightly. I'm reticent to place too much emphasis on the whole "kids" aspect, which is sensible but also feels vaguely like a catchall. I don't know what it was.

One thing I think is worth pointing out is that his press habits differed wildly between TWBB -> TM -> IV -> PT -- and those were all distributed by different companies. So my money is on the distributors doing most of the bookings and him following those however he's most comfortable. I know there's a tendency to fall into the trap of, "but PTA calls all the shots! He doesn't do ANYTHING he doesn't want to do!" but I would venture to guess that attitude is mostly funneled into posters, trailers, TV spots, rollout patterns, etc.

I remember him speaking positively of his marketing collaboration with the Warner Brothers team for Vice, and I think it's feasible he's relented a bit on micromanaging this sort of thing -- particularly because any distributor he would work with at this point is going to have a good sense of what his vibe is already going into it, and who his films are for.

FWIW, box office receipts on Phantom Thread obviously haven't been stellar (although I would argue better than some here are making it seem -- we forget the film's barely reached international at this point), but it seems to have really invigorated the likes of us. So maybe Focus made a calculation that there's no use in trying to create converts at this point and to just play to the work's strengths -- from a financial perspective a failure (to this point), but from a These-Promotional-Materials-Are-Sick-And-Make-Me-Stoked-For-A-New-PTA perspective, I think it's probably the best of any of his films since Blood.

Quote from: swopula on February 16, 2018, 08:35:35 PM
TWBB is the first and only time I ever thought he seemed truly joyless doing press, but I felt it profoundly so.

See I had the complete opposite reaction. I remember him being ecstatic showing that film, and beaming with pride during interviews. His appearance with Elvis Mitchell on the Treatment comes to mind.

Ultimately we are all making assumptions based on the narrow window of media time we are exposed to with each film. We have no idea truly what's going through his head doing press or in regular life, nor do we really need to. I have heard him say on many occasions he's at his happiest when he's making and showing movies.

I think he gave more interviews for magnolia than any of his others, but that was back when he was in manic-cocaine-wunderkind mode.

Loving the amount of interviews he's been doing for this press tour, he knows what he's gotta do to sell the film and seems cool with it. And its been really nice to see him in such a good place.

Crazy part from the Dylan Tichenor interview about deleted stuff:

"TICHENOR: This is the fireside chat. This scene was originally many times this length. A lot more dialogue. Sections about his children and the baby-mamas, etc. About Alma's desire to be a wife... a lot... minutes. But, ultimately, and from the beginning really, it was rhythmically obviously too long, but also way too many things in it. In paring down the film we took out most of this scene, so it plays as part of the falling-in-love date and not as its own chapter"

Im glad that stuff isnt in the movie. It kind of complicates things a bit too much although it's not unrealistic for the times.

Quote from: Tdog on February 17, 2018, 12:36:38 PM
Crazy part from the Dylan Tichenor interview about deleted stuff:

"TICHENOR: This is the fireside chat. This scene was originally many times this length. A lot more dialogue. Sections about his children and the baby-mamas, etc. About Alma's desire to be a wife... a lot... minutes. But, ultimately, and from the beginning really, it was rhythmically obviously too long, but also way too many things in it. In paring down the film we took out most of this scene, so it plays as part of the falling-in-love date and not as its own chapter"

Im glad that stuff isnt in the movie. It kind of complicates things a bit too much although it's not unrealistic for the times.

I'm ultimately glad for those decisions ... but it would be really interesting to have all that stuff in there in some sort of extended cut/extended story.

Quote from: Fuzzy Dunlop on February 16, 2018, 11:36:03 PM
I think he gave more interviews for magnolia than any of his others, but that was back when he was in manic-cocaine-wunderkind mode.

Loving the amount of interviews he's been doing for this press tour, he knows what he's gotta do to sell the film and seems cool with it. And its been really nice to see him in such a good place.

I've always wondered if the manic cocaine thing is just hyperbole to describe his demeanor and mood in those days, or if he was actually a coke-head.

Quote from: Drenk on February 16, 2018, 11:53:56 AM
There is some kind of an interview here. It's a Twitter link, I don't know if there is another way to see it.

https://twitter.com/VanityFairFR/status/964509257352798209

It´s on Youtube now ;)

Nice interview in the LA Times today that touches on his process, his personal life, 'hidden' humor in Blood and Thread...and generally seems to reinforce the idea of his ongoing mellowness these days.


(And a hint at a new screenplay collaboration.)



http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-en-mn-paul-thomas-anderson-phantom-thread-oscars-20180220-htmlstory.html (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-en-mn-paul-thomas-anderson-phantom-thread-oscars-20180220-htmlstory.html)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem like this very nice and notable part of Phantom Thread's promotional tour is getting a lot of coverage. DDL was in Athens recently and attended a press conference for the Greek premiere of the film. This was about more than straightforward promotional duties, though. Here's the story behind this visit, which can be traced back to My Left Foot:

Quote from: Daniel Day-Lewis is in Athens for the premiere of his latest film – which he has also stated will be his cinematic swan-song. But this is not the first time he is in town, nor the first Greek premiere he is attending. In fact, he has been attending the Greek premieres of all his movies since 1989. That was the year he made the film My Left Foot (for which he picked up his first Oscar) where he played Christy Brown, an Irishman born with cerebral palsy, who could control only his left foot.

To prepare for the role he spent three months in a school for disabled children in Dublin, which immersed him in their world. It was then that he realized that Daphne Economou, the mother of George Economou, his good friend from college (the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School), was president of Cerebral Palsy Greece, an organisation that had been caring for people with cerebral palsy and raising awareness since 1972. He immediately decided to help by donating the proceeds from the film's Greek premiere to the organisation.

Cynics might dismiss that move as a savvy exercise in public relations. But if it was, it has been remarkably long-lasting: since then – effectively over almost his entire career – he has seen to it that the revenue from every Greek premiere of his films has gone to supporting the work of Cerebral Palsy Greece.

This is taken from this GREECE IS article (http://www.greece-is.com/news/daniel-day-lewis-came-athens/), which is worth clicking on for these and other reasons. It also includes DDL commenting on the film, his retirement, etc.

That was a wonderful article. It adds to my respect for the man--which was primarily just based on his prodigious talent.  This comment really stood out for me:

QuoteI don't fully understand [my decision] but it came to me with a sense of conviction and so I choose to move forward in acceptance of that, rather than struggling with it.

Quote from: wilberfan on February 20, 2018, 12:41:57 PM



http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-en-mn-paul-thomas-anderson-phantom-thread-oscars-20180220-htmlstory.html (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-en-mn-paul-thomas-anderson-phantom-thread-oscars-20180220-htmlstory.html)

here's the Big Daddy phone call scene referred to in the article, bringing to mind Barry flipping out on his sister over the payphone in Hawaii.

https://youtu.be/CrXuBYnfVOI

A bit of promotional fluff, but I don't believe we've heard from "Nana" and "Biddy" before.


https://twitter.com/Phantom_Thread/status/966071977667473408/video/1

New interviews!

"He probably should have some kind of co-writing, you know, credit... but that's okay..."

Yeah, that's interesting.

So, I don't want to read too much into too little here, but the comment and the body language might lend credence to the idea that Day-Lewis asked to not be credited for writing. This was recently discussed in another thread because someone kind of claimed this was the case in a review.

PTA says, "but he..." and then decides not to get into it. Then there's that "but that's okay" bit, which suggests that he made a concession to DDL's wishes, even though he would have preferred to see him receive the credit? I don't know.

It's probably WGA bullshit. They are the most obnoxious union in the world.

Paul Thomas Anderson with Alan Parker in a Directors UK Q & A

(Audio Only)




[edit] My clear favorite of all of the interviews I've listened to since November.  Lot's of interesting questions on writing, casting, blocking, photography, editing, mixing, etc...  A nice way to finish up this very long promotional season.

Yeah it's a really great interview!

Amazing interview! It has great behind the scenes stories of the film! 

Excited to listen! Wish this was in mp3/podcast form but maybe I'll convert it for everyone when I have time.

original podcast version in iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/directors-uk-podcast/id1317280636?mt=2#)

page 8's (http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=13831.msg352766#msg352766) got you covered

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50wNZ_eiJfA

To be honest SXSW is a mistery to me but saw some photos of PTA with Chalamet, Armie Hammer and Linklater. Apparently there was some kind of a conversation between PTA and Linklater. Cannot find the photos now but considering the talks with Rian Johnson and especially with Alan Parker were easily top3 interviews Anderson have done for PT, I would love to listen to yet another one.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=33s&v=0SFAswA_Bu4

Apologies if this has been posted before. Great DDL moment around the 11 minute mark.

 New interview online!

Ah the return of close-shave PTA! 😳

A new interview after a few months of silence!

This looks very interesting. IIRC, I haven't seen this discussed anywhere else yet.

Just in case, I'll note a NSFW warning here because of some of the gallery images:

https://autre.love/new-products/autre-spring-issue-paul-thomas-anderson

10-page interview and photographs by Amanda Demme.

Great cover image!

Don't know if I'll shell out $15 for it but it does look very interesting.

Oh I'll be shelling...

Quote from: eward on August 09, 2018, 05:49:15 PM
Oh I'll be shelling...

Give us a scan, would you?

Of course!

And here we go...


(my apologies, the magazine was too large for my scanner at work so I had to do it on my phone, forgive its relative shoddiness)

if someone shared their favorite part, as in if they quoted it, that'd be cool

Great video!

Heads-up, gents!

https://youtu.be/kpi393XkzUo

Quote from: wilberfan on June 30, 2020, 11:17:09 PM
Heads-up, gents!

https://youtu.be/kpi393XkzUo

Cool, I'll enjoy this. No PTA though unless he does a surprise show up.

Thanks for sharing, this sounds cool. Maybe we'll get some info on the next one as well.

That was wonderful!

That was awesome! So many things to dig through.......
The train scene, deleted subplots.

I really enjoyed that, too.  Gave me a real insight--and new level of appreciation for what they accomplished, how hard they worked--and how truly technically skillful PTA has become (in addition to his already all-to-apparent skill with writing and directing actors). 

[edit]  It will be very interesting to see if he sticks with this model--or returns to having a conventional DP.  There are clearly advantages and disadvantages to this "do-it-yourself" method.

They're doing another one on Friday, this time a Q&A.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCXGTccBSQ4/

https://youtu.be/5ght3CxAL4M