October 27, 2000

Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005

If you're addicted to tobacco or have a weakness for dingy diners, you'll be itching for a smoke in your favorite local eatery after watching Cigarettes and Coffee, a 30-minute short written and directed by Paul Anderson in 1993, before he took on the snazzy moniker P.T. Anderson. From the corner of my eye I spotted the label on the video's white, hard plastic case. It read: "Warning: Only available version of this ultra rare film. Picture quality may be affected." Hmmm ... my curiosity was piqued.

This was Anderson's, director of the much lauded hits Boogie Nights and Magnolia, first film. Set in a diner outside Las Vegas (a city with very lenient smoking regulations), it gives a quick glimpse into the lives of five people, a minuscule cast compared with his other films which are filled to the brim with many well-known actors. There are three narratives: two friends, one young and in trouble, the other older and supposedly wiser (Philip Baker Hall); a young couple on their dysfunctional honeymoon; and a shady hustler. On the surface, they all seem to be connected solely by their love of nicotine. However, as their secrets unfurl, their stories seem to softly glide together along the fringes. When one crumples a $20 note and throws it on the floor, another finds it and picks it up on her way out.

These types of cat-and-mouse coincidences, which tie seemingly disparate characters together through small, unassuming actions, are key structural points that Anderson builds upon and polishes in his later films. Like Quentin Tarantino, he possesses a knack for blending different life stories together onto one large canvas, but does so in a slightly more subtle way.

He expanded Cigarettes and Coffee into the 1996 feature Sydney, which was then dubbed Hard Eight. He used bigger stars then, like Samuel L. Jackson and Gwyneth Paltrow, but here he only musters up a relatively unknown cast with actors like Kirk Baltz and Scott Coffey. This initial effort seems to be an exploration of human nature and relationships, particularly in the face of friction. He presents a few, quick vignettes that leave the viewer with the knowledge that there is and will be more.

The short opens with close-ups of the ritualistic act of preparing and lighting a cigarette. Hall breaks the silence with precisely enunciated words – as if each syllable needs to be pronounced just so – to benefit the viewers so that we may absorb the full importance of the point. The point? Drink coffee and have a smoke when you need to get something serious off your chest.

Tobacco and caffeine are the Valium of this created world. Each drag soothes the nerves of both the distraught and mellow characters. Is it a commentary on commonplace addictions or an exercise in product placement? Even as the newlywed husband barrages his wife with caustic words because of her irresponsible gambling binge, when he pauses to smoke life seems a bit more bearable and his wife less stupid.

But cigarettes and caffeine aren't the core of his film; the dubious mysteries are slowly revealed. Of course, they come at the very end leaving you waiting for a sequel. However, this being Anderson's first film, you know that it does pan out. Following the short is Aimee Mann's haunting music video for "Save Me" from the Magnolia soundtrack and two short trailers for the movie. Though a bit strange to watch after a film, it was a nice release from the tension built up earlier.

September 1, 1999

Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005

Roughcut Scoop/Magnolia to be trimmed and pushed up??

Editor's Note: This scoop courtesy of Rough Cut 

THE GOOD: Jeff Wells got some early poop on Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia and thus broke the code of silence around the picture. Jeff's concerns about the over-three-hour running time led to an exchange between myself and New Line's Michael DeLuca on Magnolia, with DeLuca kindly laying out the studio's position on how they handle a three-hour movie: "Here's the straight scoop: There's no pressure on Paul to cut. I don't pressure world class filmmakers. I make suggestions, Bob Shaye makes suggestions, but that's it. I flipped over the film, and all I told Paul was that if he could, he should try to keep the running time requirement for four shows a day as opposed to three in his mind while trimming. He agreed and he's been trimming on his own these past four weeks. I let Paul have his own process, and he often screens changes for me.

We totally knew what the film was going to be when we read the script. No surprises. I thought we'd end up with a three and a half hour movie and he's actually going to end up much shorter. We never thought that the commercial chances for Magnolia would be determined by running time. It's either going to connect as the greatest film ever made before the ending of a millennium, or it won't, but a half hour will not make the difference. With this kind of movie, it's the total experience of the film itself that sells the film. All we told Paul was cut the best movie you can."

In Jeff's conversation with Paul Thomas Anderson, a potential Thanksgiving release on as many as 1800 screens was brought up. New Line got killed in platform release for the underrated and underseen Living Out Loud last year, so one more exchange on the release, so I felt compelled to ask if they were going wider to avoid the past. Apparently not. DeLuca on distribution: "We're actually trying to avoid December competition (Ripley, The Green Mile, etc). There's like four three hour movies in December. So I want to either be the first or the last (a January release with a qualifying run, like we did Wag the Dog). We were always going wider than 800, [it was] just a matter of when."

And I guess it still is. There aren't many production chiefs in Hollywood who surf the Web, much less indulge those of us who work out here. Mike DeLuca is a rare bird in that way and in many others. The most remarkable one is that I don't think he's ever misled me, on or off the record. Could being honest be the future of Hollywood? Let's see. In my experience, Fox and New Line are the most willingly informative and most direct of the studios. And they do pretty well. Hmmmm...Like Cosmo suggested in Sneakers, does the power to create destruction (a big Web issue) come from "Too many secrets?" Hmmmm...

Courtesy of Roughcut by David Poland

Premiere Magazine Tidbit

Magnolia is discussed in the September 1999 Fall Movie Preview. 

The Pitch:

During one day in the San Fernando Valley, the lives of several disparate people (including Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and John C. Reilly) intersect, with tragicomic results.

The Big Picture:

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights) denies the rumor that the script for his $30 million-plus follow-up runs a staggering 160 pages. "No," he says with a laugh. "It's longer." He refuses to say much else about it, however. "I feel lately as if I know everything about a movie before I see it, " he says, "and I really want the audience to discover this purely." Some of the Nights cast have returned, plus one rather prominent addition: Tom Cruise, in an un-billed role. And (get this) it was Cruise who approached Anderson. "It's like getting the phone call from the President of the United States, " Anderson says. "If he hadn't called, I just would have assumed he wasn't gettable for me." But if the first days of filming seemed like a class reunion, that feeling didn't last. "Julianne was the first one to shoot - she kind of got the baseball bat in the face," Anderson says, figuratively speaking. "It was emotionally arduous," Moore confirms, "Paul pushed me really hard - much harder than someone I didn't know would have." Macy, who plays a former quiz-show whiz kid obsessed with a male bartender, endured pain of a more physical nature. "Paul had an idea for a gag where I leave the keys on my belt chain in the door and walk away, and it's supposed to knock me ass-over-teakettle," Macy says. "He made me do it 35 times . My whole hip was black and blue by the end of the night." Perhaps Anderson was getting even. Earlier, when the director was discussing how one scene should be shot, Macy observed that the proposed angle was unflattering to him. "Oh, here it starts," Anderson roared. "One fucking nomination and suddenly... You're not a leading man; you're a character actor." Macy gibed back: "And you're a cult director who doesn't know when to stop writing."

August 12, 1999

Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005

Magnolia Test Screening Down Under?

Editors Note: I received this email from a reader who had the opportunity to see a rough cut of Magnolia in Australia. There are very minor spoilers so read with caution!

I live in Sydney Australia, and would you believe I saw "Magnolia" a week ago! I was handed a flier in the street which said "You and a guest are invited to the most anticipated film of the year 2000". It didn't say anything else other than where it was on and that it ran for 3 hours. Out of curiosity more than anything else I went along. The cinema was packed, and no one new what they were about to see. Finally an American guy came out and said that he wasn't going to say anything about the film except that it wasn't quite finished, and that we were the first audience in the world to see it.

I had no idea what I was about to see or why it was being shown in Australia. Within about 20 minutes of it starting, Tom Cruise appeared. Then one by one, heaps of the cast of Boogie Nights. Then it hit me. Tom Cruise was in the audience. He had to be.  He's in Sydney at the moment doing Mission Impossible 2. The back row of the cinema was reserved with security sitting on the aisles. The back row was empty when the credits rolled (obviously to get Tom out in time) and why else would they show an unfinished version of a new film in Sydney? Obviously Tom wanted to see it and see it with an audience reaction.

So, what was the film like? I thought it was brilliant. It ran for 3 hours 25 minutes and wasn't boring for a second. The performances are uniformly sensational (Tom Cruise at his best ever). It's quite bizarre at times. The soundtrack is great by the way. It's just a superb movie in so many ways.

At the end of the movie the American guy came back into the theatre. There were only about five people left in there. I asked him what his connection with the movie was. He said, "Oh I wrote and directed it". I couldn't believe it. Here was the genius right in front of me. I shook his hand and told him he was brilliant. He asked us whether the film was too long. I said only by a bit, and he said he was going to cut it by about 20 minutes. It would be perfect at that length. I said I loved the music and he said it was all going to stay in. I said, "Even Revolution 9 (Beatles Song)?". He laughed and said, "No, all except that one. I can't afford that one". Damn that Michael Jackson, hey. Anyway, as he was leaving I got him to sign a popcorn container for me. I was pretty chuffed about that. He was THE nicest guy. Very humble, incredibly friendly.