Other actors/directors/etc. who mention PTA

[jenkins]

Who is saying this and where is it from.

sourced

[jenkins]

they previously settled it

Just to clarify: My comments about Fincher and Fight Club were stupid. Wishing anyone testicular cancer isn't funny and I did end up seeing the film. I had a problem with the violence and the cruelty -- I just couldn't get past it -- blah blah blah....I wrote a letter to Fincher apologizing for my comments.....he was cool about it.

[wilberfan]

Will Ferrell Talks 'August Blowout,' His First Adam McKay Collab Which Caught The Eye Of Paul Thomas Anderson

The relationship between Will Ferrell and Adam McKay is legendary. Combined, the duo worked on a number of already-iconic comedy films such as "Anchorman," "Step Brothers," and "Talledega Nights." But it's a film that was never made, titled "August Blowout," that might have been the most important collaboration between the duo.

Speaking on a recent edition of THR's Awards Chatter podcast, Ferrell talked about "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga," and that film's Oscar chances, which seems very real given that the soundtrack is now officially a Grammy nominee. But during that interview, the actor talked about the genesis of his relationship with Adam McKay and how they attracted the help of Paul Thomas Anderson.

"We were actually hired on the same day ," said Ferrell about his partnership with McKay. "Obviously Adam as a writer. And we just started writing sketches together and realized we had a lot of the same comedy taste as well as working style which was to not overthink it, and just to work really fast and maybe look at it a second time, but for the most part, go with that first gut [instinct] "

He added, "I had turned to Adam and said, 'Would you ever want to write a feature together?' and he said, 'let's do it.'"

That film would become "August Blowout," a script for a comedy that never got made.

"We had written this script called 'August Blowout' that never got made, but really got passed around town," explained Ferrell. "This was kinda about a 'Glengarry Glenn Ross' meets a car dealership, meets, 'Used Cars.' It was about weird, horrible, eccentric car dealership guys and whatever that world is."

While the script didn't actually get a green light, "August Blowout" did gain the attention of noted comedy fan (especially with the works of Adam Sandler), Paul Thomas Anderson. And though 'Blowout' well, blew out, the friendship did turn prosperous.

"That was a nice calling card for our tone and kind of set the table for us," he explained. "I remember Paul Thomas Anderson had read that and said [to us], 'Wow, do you guys want to write something else?' and that's when the 'Anchorman' idea came around."

Now, wait, what? PTA asking Will Ferrell and Adam McKay if they potentially wanted to write something for him? Unfortunately, the interviewer doesn't follow up on any of that, nor asks any details about PTA's relationship to them, but this would have likely been circa the early aughts, and Anderson has started dating Maya Rudolph in 2001 when she was on "Saturday Night Live," so that's likely where all those connections were made.

Fortunately, the story is out there and in short, Anderson was so impressed with "August Blowout," he offered to help them make their next movie which turned out to be "Anchorman."

"[He] came and guest-wrote for a week on SNL," Ferrell explained back in 2017 on the Bill Simmons podcast. "And he sat down with us and he was like, 'I read that 'August Blowout.'"

"He's like, 'What if you guys wrote whatever you wanted to write, and I would shepherd it for you and kind of find out how to make it?' We were like, 'We'd do it. We'd do it in a heartbeat.' So that's when we wrote 'Anchorman.' So he was one of the guardian angels even though I think the first incarnation of that was maybe a little too weird for Paul."

The script would obviously go to Judd Apatow and the rest is history, but dare to dream that Paul Thomas Anderson could properly collaborate with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay one day. As for "Anchorman," well, it still took a minute for Hollywood to get interested, but once "Old School" became a hit, Dreamworks realized they had the option and decided to greenlight it soon after it lit up the box-office, Ferrell explained.

[kingfan011]

Interesting to see Paul's comments about Fight Club start to pop up again and how few people on the internet get the context. So many people don't seem to remember that his dad had just died of cancer when he saw it (which is why he made Magnolia) so of course he would react negatively for it. So many of the articles don't mention it either.

[wilberfan]

Mary Lynn Rajskub Reveals How She Landed on Paul Thomas Anderson's Radar

[Alethia]

That was, um, short.

[kingfan011]

Mary Lynn Rajskub Reveals How She Landed on Paul Thomas Anderson's Radar

interesting never thought about how exacting some of those camera set ups are in the film.

[wilberfan]

Katherine Waterston...discusses scoring a breakout role from Paul Thomas Anderson

https://youtu.be/TkQfApTSzxc

12:13 - How Waterston scored her role in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice.
13:58 - Inherent Vice changed everything for Waterston.
16:10 - How Anderson's approach to casting could improve the process.

[jviness02]

Mary Lynn Rajskub Reveals How She Landed on Paul Thomas Anderson's Radar

She says in the interview herself that 30 was a lot for him which got me thinking.  I asked two friends who both worked on TWBB and The Master and they both (separately) guessed he probably averaged 7-10 takes a set up.

[Drenk]

Katherine Waterston...discusses scoring a breakout role from Paul Thomas Anderson

https://youtu.be/TkQfApTSzxc

12:13 - How Waterston scored her role in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice.
13:58 - Inherent Vice changed everything for Waterston.
16:10 - How Anderson's approach to casting could improve the process.

What a breakthrough for the daughter of Sam Waterston.

[jenkins]

it's weird to think of PTA as the offspring of a cultural emblem without judging him, but that's the entire pta fanbase

[wilberfan]

She says in the interview herself that 30 was a lot for him which got me thinking.  I asked two friends who both worked on TWBB and The Master and they both (separately) guessed he probably averaged 7-10 takes a set up.

So interesting to see that.  I estimated 8-12 on Soggy.

[kingfan011]

She says in the interview herself that 30 was a lot for him which got me thinking.  I asked two friends who both worked on TWBB and The Master and they both (separately) guessed he probably averaged 7-10 takes a set up.

So interesting to see that.  I estimated 8-12 on Soggy.

I guess PDL was really technical.

[Drenk]

Just that particular long take with a lot of stuff going on at the same time.

[wilberfan]

Costume Designer Mark Bridges Talks Broadway Beginnings, 'News Of The World' & The Time He Won A Jet Ski At The Oscars

One of his first big breaks was when he was hired for Hard Eight by a 25-year-old Paul Thomas Anderson. "[We] had very little money for Hard Eight, but had a good time making it. It was a lot of fun. We lived at the casino that we shot at. Of course, we didn't have much money, but it was shot in Reno, and at the time, Reno was really the land of thrift stores," Bridges notes. "So, it was perfect. I needed clothes for no money, and they had all the resources right there."

In his relationship with the auteur, Bridges found longevity. In the decades since Hard Eight, the pair have reteamed on seven other acclaimed features—including Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice and Phantom Thread. And recently, they joined forces once again on a highly anticipated film that has yet to be titled, starring Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie and Cooper Hoffman. "It's 25 years we've been working together," Bridges marvels, "so that's exciting that we're still going at this point. Paul and I work the way that we have always worked."