April 3, 2000

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

As promised, here's the update on all those rumors floating around (some for years) on PTA's future projects. I asked Paul about these back in December & here's what he had to say:

Lennon
: PTA has never been approached about this & said that he has no intentions to do this. He would love to make a musical & he obviously has an affinity for the Beatles, but expect an original concept that has nothing to do with the Beatles or John Lennon.

Blue Movie
: Total Film, the UK magazine, reported that PTA was interested in reuniting Mark Wahlberg & Heather Graham for an adaption of the Southern novel, Blue Movie, which details how a brother & sister from an American acting dynasty decide to make a porn film as an expression of high art. PTA laughed this off & said, "not a chance." When I originally reported this back in November, I thought it was wishful thinking as PTA has already covered this topic in Boogie Nights.

Rule of the Bone
: PTA did adapt this Russell Bank's book (Sweet Hereafter) for director Carl Franklin (Devil in a Blue Dress) years ago, but the Sony/Columbia Tri-Star project seems to have stalled. I will follow up with PTA the next time we speak, to see if there's been any progress.

Untitled Jonathan Demme Project: 
There still appears to be a collaboration on the horizon that is not related to the Bob Downey, Sr. project I reported last month. I believe the project is with Universal & any updates will appear here!

I will have an image link up shortly to check the latest news on these & other proposed projects. I do not want to become a rumor mill, so anything that is posted will have to come from a credible source & won't gain validity until I have checked with PTA's camp.

November 29, 1999

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

More Entertainment Weekly Tidbits

Magnolia partially graces the cover of the November 26th issue which proclaims 1999 - The Year That Changed Movies. This article has many comments from Paul and is a definitive must read.

In addition, I have collected the rest of the highlights of the issue below:

They rank Magnolia as one to see for the rest of the year and into 2000:

After 1997's electric Boogie Nights, director Paul Thomas Anderson delivers an Altmanesque epic intertwining the lives of a guru (Tom Cruise), a cop (John C. Reilly), a salesman (William H. Macy), a dying father (Jason Robards) and other denizens of the San Fernando Valley. (Dec. 17 - L.A./NY)

They also list the new directors for the next millennium. The entire article is here, but this is what they had to say about Paul:

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON: Hard Eight (1997) and Boogie Nights (1997) are the work of a Valley Boy full of nerve and verve gunning for the deluxe adrenaline rushes of Scorsese.

Lastly, they review various movie posters and here's what they had to say about the theatrical poster for Magnolia"

MAGNOLIA C

What's New Line's solution to selling a three-hour-plus drama with eight plots that are only tangentially related, and a superstar, Tom Cruise, reluctant to overshadow his fellow thespians? The Magic Eye route: Tom is tucked behind two petals near one o'clock. (You'll need to look at the real poster to find him.) While hiding Cruise's mug is risky business, the studio gets extra credit for referencing the movie's inexplicable plague-of-frogs scene with a Kermit in the corner.

Mike De Luca Article

Here's a nice article on Mike De Luca, president of New Line from Newsweek. It has a nice summary of his career and the fact that he is finally putting his "bad boy" image behind him.

 

The Latest Rumor on Paul's Next Movie

The latest rumor about Paul's next project seems to be the most unlikely to me. This scoop comes from the wonderful UK film magazine Total Film:

Southern book Blue Movie – detailing how a brother and sister form an American acting dynasty decide to make a porn film as an expression of high art – is looking like the next project for Paul Thomas Anderson to direct, reuniting Boogie Nights’ Mark Wahlberg and Heather Graham.

Courtesy of Total Film Magazine - November 1999

I find this rumor very far fetched as Paul has been down the porn road before, and I doubt he's ready to revisit it.