Emily Watson Has Seen The First 30 Minutes Of ‘The Master,' Says Film Will Be Incredible

Moviefone sat down with "War Horse" star Emily Watson and while talking to her about her career, the conversation turned to her (magnificent) work in "Punch-Drunk Love." The actress mentioned that she'd love to work with Paul again and then let slip that she's actually seen the first 30 minutes of 'The Master.' Take it away, Emily...

One of my favorite movies is 'Punch-Drunk Love.'
[A big smile overcomes her face] Yeah. Me, too.

Were you at all hesitant to take that role? Not with P.T. Anderson, but maybe there was a concern about this being an Adam Sandler wacky comedy?
No, I knew. Paul came to me and said, "I'm doing this film with Adam and I'd like you to be in it." And the idea of the two of us in a room together tickled me pink. Just particularity where he was at and where I was at -- we were from different planets. And I thought, what a delicious idea.

You two should do another movie together.
I'd love to! I would love to do another movie.

I think people do miss the Sandler who pushed himself like that.
Yeah. And he had an incredible work ethic. We did hundreds of takes ... Well, not hundreds, but take after take after take. Adam just went at it, went at it, went at it. He completely gave over to being in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. He gave himself over to it in a very self-effacing way. It's lovely.

And it's been so long since we've seen a Paul Thomas Anderson movie.
He has made one, I saw the first half an hour.

Of 'The Master'?
It's going to be incredible. I'm not going to say anything more on that. He'll kill me!

So the first half hour already exists?
Oh, yeah. Well ... they're editing.

Very, very exciting. Our fingers are still crossed there might be some sort of footage released before the end of the year but with likely a full 12 months to go before release we understand if Paul wants to keep a tight lid on things. But that doesn't mean we're not jealous.

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January 28-31, 2002

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

Emily Watson talked Project X4 to the weekly magazine, The Georgia Straight, about Project X4 while promoting Altman's Gosford Park (Thanks Owen!):

Watson did say yes to Paul Thomas Anderson, the Magnolia and Boogie Nights director, when he was looking for a lead female for his first comedy, Punch Drunk Knuckle Love. The film's male lead: none other than Adam Sandler.

"I had the best time," she says, "and Adam is amazing. Paul pulls down something very different from what he has done before and so does Adam, and I guess so do I. I'll admit we're a strange threesome, but it was a happy meeting."

Musician Nick Cave (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) had this to say about Magnolia in a recent interview in the 2001 Winter issue of Mojo. (Thanks Ryan!)

He doesn't find that much to admire about recent movies - especially the Coen brothers - though he did like Michael Mann's Heat and The Informer, and thoroughly enjoyed Paul Anderson's Magnolia. "I love the way that it descends into misery," he says. "There's a section in the middle which goes on for ages, where everyone's just in agony, sitting there crying. You don't often get that from Hollywood: lengthy periods of sorrow just aren't welcome, you have a cry for two seconds and then everybody's happy again. And I liked the shower of frogs: to me it was like an apocalypse, God yawning at everyone's stupidity, and sending down a plague."

In case you missed it, the Boogie Nights DVD was listed among Entertainment Weekly's Essential DVDs of the Century. Here's their comments:

Boogie Nights (1997) (New Line, R, $29.95) Leave it to the leader of a ''funky bunch'' to star in a porn flick. Or rather, a flick about porn. But Mark Wahlberg proved to be the perfect choice to play Dirk Diggler, the well-endowed star of Paul Thomas Anderson's ode to the adult-film industry. And while size may indeed matter, it was Anderson's deft attention to detail that made ''Boogie Nights'' the defining cinematic look back at the glitzy, glamorous (and grimy) late '70s.

Here's an interesting article about the spirituality of Magnolia. You can read it here. (Thanks Nick!)