Well then -
Warner Bros announced today that they will release a full trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's forthcoming One Battle After Another next week - and has dropped a 20-second teaser to entice you.
Good morning!
Good morning!
Whether this will be a formal adaptation by way of credit is not yet clear, and whether there may still be trims forthcoming is also not clear, so do take the information with a grain of salt. At any rate, this is starting to take on a 'Willard-finally-nearing-Kurtz' vibe.
It's close... you can feel it.
More soon, hopefully sooner than later!
The hits keep on coming...
Today, Warner Bros announced their intention to release Paul Thomas Anderson's forthcoming 10th feature film...
...on August 8th, 2025... in IMAX...
Okay, so the first part feels... well, like a fucking eternity. bluntly. But in combination with the second part and in combination with the fact that this is by a million miles the biggest production budget PTA has ever had... and in combination with the fact that WB is deeming this an "event" indicates that the swings here really will be as big as we've all been guessing.
We still don't know what the hell the movie is, per se, and that's one of the most exciting parts of the PTA fan experience, but to editorialize, it really seems hard to imagine such resources would be poured into another pure Pynchon adaptation. And if it is that Vineland adaptation we've all been guessing on, well then Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy deserve some kind of medal of valor for pushing their chips in on something like that.
We here at C&RV will be perfectly happy with whatever subject matter that is ultimately cooked up here, of course.
But folks, let's call a spade a spade: this. is. major.
More soon, we hope/guess/think
Yes, we'd been hearing the whispers just like you...
but then the actors strike happened...
on top of the writers strike...
PTA's long-gestating Licorice Pizza follow-up felt like it was in a precarious place.
But the project that was hinted at gearing up as long ago as November 2022 finally appears to be at our door step, and per Deadline, it just might be a doozy (bold emphasis below is ours):
Warner Bros has Paul Thomas Anderson set to direct Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio & Sean Penn and Oscar host Regina Hall in an untitled film that will begin production January 21 in California. Anderson wrote the script, and he will produce the film with Sara Murphy.
The film is currently untitled and they’re keeping the logline under wraps. We have learned that it is a contemporary setting and it is the most commercial one that PTA has attempted, with commensurate budget. It came out of a relationship that Warner Bros Picture Group co-chair/CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy built making PTA’s last film, Licorice Pizza, while they ran MGM. That film got three Oscar noms for Best Picture, and Best Screenplay and Best Director for PTA. While DiCaprio, Penn and Hall are the leads, the new film will have a big ensemble cast that is still falling into place. Anderson has done ensemble in the past, notably with Boogie Nights, the film that De Luca shepherded when he headed production at New Line.
uhhh... Leo & Sean Penn? & Regina Hall? & a big budget?? & his first use of contemporary setting in over 20 years????
Untitled PTA #10 is already sounding... significant.
Assuming Deadline's forecast of the film starting principal photography in just under two weeks (!) is still on track, I think it's fair to expect at least some additional casting details to slip through the grapevine in the quite near future, but we shall see!
We shall see.
Today we've lost a great one.
Journeyman thespian and PTA favorite Philip Baker Hall has passed away at the age of 90. It's really hard to overstate the significance Hall's otherworldly acting abilities had on not just Paul Thomas Anderson's first three features but on damn near every project he ever endeavored to take on, no matter the size of role. His gravitas and grace and wry wit will be sorely missed but never forgotten and hopefully discovered anew by generations to come.
Rest easy, sir.