Benicio Del Toro Also Appearing in BC Project, Apparently

An interesting tidbit tucked into the bottom of a wholly unrelated Hollywood Reporter story this morning indicates that Paul Thomas Anderson will be reuniting with Inherent Vice collaborator (and fucking brilliant actor) Benicio del Toro on the new untitled flick that is set for release next summer.

Images surfaced recently showing that the movie was still filming in southern California (remember, it started in late January!) and we speculated that that meant the movie was roughly now in the wheelhouse of time it took for principal photography to be completed for Magnolia.

So this would seem to be PTA's longest shoot in quite some time and, notably, THR says Del Toro will need to wrap up the other Anderson's new movie before joining BC Project.

So, assuming the production is not in reshoots, this could well end up being the biggest shoot of PTA's career.

Hard not to let one's imagination run away with itself when one considers what the size of this production will yield for audiences next year...

- C&RV 

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Untitled PTA Film Set For 2025 Release... IN IMAX

 

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

New PTA Film Adds Alana Haim, Teyana Taylor As Filming Begins!

Production is officially underway on Paul Thomas Anderson's 10th motion picture!

While we are unable to confirm story details (i.e. if it is or is not an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland) beyond a reasonable doubt, set photos have emerged and so has casting news.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, PTA will be reuniting with his Licorice Pizza muse and longtime music video  collaborator Alana Haim in the movie - and he has also added Teyana Taylor, Shayna McHayle, Wood Harris, and up-and-comer Chase Infiniti. Goes without saying that the nature (and size) of these performers' respective roles is not known just yet, but still sweet!

The movie had been shooting up in Norther California to begin principal photography, but according to the Humbold-Del Norte Film Commission, that unit has now wrapped and the production will be moving onto other locations.

Photos and footage from the set has become quite plentiful over the last week and we trust you are all quite adept at using your Google contraptions to scavenge, but we'll include a couple as a treat below the fold.

- C&RV 

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Long-Awaited New PTA Film Finally Coming! Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Regina Hall Set To Star

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.

- C&RV 

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