It's weird that the trades couldn't find out more about this. Most of the information they reported really originated from here. Obviously they wanted to be low-key during filming, but no confirmation of Penn even after being photographed on the set? No confirmation that filming had wrapped. No press release at all from MGM.
I'm sure MGM will do a press release when they feel like it. The press will get more info when the project is further along. For now, they know as much as (or less than) we do. I get the feeling that PTA et al. want to keep public info low-key until pandemic restrictions loosen up. Which is another way of saying that there will be tons of time to edit it. I think it'll be a Spring 2021 release or beyond ... which is a lot of time for editing, post-production, etc.
Excited for this one. PTA's last two contradicted my expectations in unique ways, and I really appreciate them for that .... I'm most excited for this one because of the setting. PTA returns to the 70s, but (probably) in fuller effect than in IV (which was '69 or '70, so maybe not entirely 70s). And probably in fuller effect than Boogie Nights (which spans into the 80s).
I don't know if there's a term for having nostalgia for a time when you weren't even alive (there probably is), but I have that for the 70s. The 70s were a Goldilocks zone of tape recordings, vinyl, big music studios, large-format consoles, so on. Literally a blip in history that has come and gone. Not to mention the wood-paneled stations wagons, radio, cigarettes, and all the colours (burnt oranges, harvest golds, etc.) that I associate with the music and culture of that time.
My point is to say that I appreciate movies that cover this period because it was such a brief period -- especially for LA culture and music -- and it's also kind of a touchstone for PTA. Not sure if we'll get more movies that'll "authentically" show us this period. In a way, movies set in that time that have
direct experience with that time become artifacts of the time. And I think PTA will be one of the last directors to be able to document the 70s ....
Anyway, this is also an incredibly intriguing movie because of the leads themselves (how will they do?). It's really the first time that a PTA movie has been without an "elite" actor in the lead since ... I guess Magnolia? Kind of? I mean, Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim don't really have the clout of DDL, Joaquin, Phillip S. Hoffman, and Adam Sandler, so it'll be interesting to see how they do for that reason alone.
