http://www.vulture.com/2018/01/who-is-phantom-thread-actress-vicky-krieps.htmlInteresting bit I hadn't read before.
Potential Spoilers (for a deleted scene)Do 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.