- Having now done several successful screenings of There Will Be Blood with live orchestral performances, it would appear PTA is broadening the playing field a bit. Today, Wordless Music has announced there will be a pair of live performances of Jon Brion's original score for Punch-Drunk Love at screenings in Los Angeles and New York on March 5 and March 19, respectively.
What's more, Wordless Music has partnered with PTA and Sony Pictures to produce a special print of Punch-Drunk for the performances that has no score whatsoever (and can you imagine how that movie plays without music?)
Tickets for both the special engagements will go on sale this coming Tuesday, December 15.
- Also passed our way recently: the great Prince Charles Cinema in London will be holding a PTA retrospective starting in January, with all seven feature films scheduled to screen. Though Hard Eight will sadly be a DCP presentation, all other movies will be shown on film (including, yes, The Master in 70mm.)
You can start snatching your tickets up for those showings here.
This morning we woke up with a little surprise in our inbox as PTA sent along another little video under his YouTube channel Al Rose Promotions (named after the "There Will Be Blood" character). But it's not a new teaser for "The Master," instead it appears to be the pilot episode of "The Jon Brion Show," the long lost variety show that PTA directed way back in 2000. The basic history is that back around 1999/2000, Jon Brion shot a pilot with VH1 for a variety show that would feature music & comedy of the various performers hanging around LA club Largo at the time (Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, etc.) but the network turned it down. So PTA decided to step in and shot his own version of "The Jon Brion Show" via 3 test episodes which he shot and paid for himself, but as far as we know never presented it to the network (or any network) for possibility to air. When we last spoke to him about the project he said he was still trying to figure out what sort of venue would be best to present them.
OK. What about The Jon Brion Variety Show? I heard that he originally
shot a pilot for VH1 & they didn’t like it. So you went back &
directed a few episodes with Jon, Aimee, Fiona, etc.?
Yeah. Jon tried to do a thing with VH1, but I never even saw what they
did. He didn’t like it. I said there’s a way we can do something &
we should experiment. So, we just basically shot tests for about three
episodes. I paid for it myself & we just did it.
At Largo?
No. At this recording studio called Ocean Way. I rented it, got a few
cameras & threw up a couple of lights. No big deal. I had Fiona
sing. I had Jon sing. Elliott Smith came by. Bette Midler happened to be
recording at the studio next door & was like “I want to sing!” It
was insane! Next thing I know, Bette Midler is doing ‘50's cover tunes.
We’re like, “Wow”! So this was all just a test to see the possibility
for a music venue or a way to capture what Jon does. I’m still convinced
there’s a way to do it. I don’t exactly know how right now. The test
showed me all these good things & some bad things.
So, you haven’t presented this to a cable channel or music video channel to air?
No. We’ll sort of revisit it & it will be this ever burning thing.
It’s been my own personal pet thing. Once we figure how we want to do
it, then we’ll figure out where we want to do it & what sort of
venue is best.
The 43 minute video -- featuring the late Elliott Smith backed by Jon Brion and Brad Mehldau performing Smith's material as well as covers of The Kinks "Waterloo Sunset,"John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" and Big Star's "Nighttime" -- was uploaded with the following description:
Music Variety and More From Archives Of Al Rose Promotions
I tore up the floorboards at H.Q. the other day
and came up with this little number on VHS.
She holds up well. Love, Al.
God, I miss Elliott Smith. Thanks Paul. With any luck someday the other two episodes may come to light...
The music video for the original track "Here We Go" was edited by Paul, and created from alternate takes & unused sequences from Punch-Drunk Love. The video was initially released within a 13 minute sizzle reel montage on an extremely limited/rare DVD release titled "Blossoms & Blood."
Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005
My condolences to the family & friends of filmmaker Ted Demme, who died of on Sunday. Demme was rushed to the emergency room of UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica when he collapsed after playing in a celebrity basketball game for the NBA Entertainment League at the private Crossroads School. The Los Angeles Coroner's office says the cause of death is not yet known and an autopsy will be conducted. Demme was 38.
Ricky Jay is a busy man. He'll be speaking at the Getty Center in Los Angeles this Friday, January 18th at 7:30 p.m. I hear tickets are sold out, but you can call 310-440-7300. Here's the details on the event:
Deceptive Practices: A Conversation with Ricky Jay - Sleight-of-hand artist, collector, and magic historian Ricky Jay, in conversation with New Yorker writer Lawrence Weschler, discusses his new book Jay's Journal of Anomalies and his relationship with the Devices of Wonder exhibition.
In TV news, IFC continues to air the Independent Focus with PTA. Also, Starz! is showing Magnolia a few times this month. You can check out the dates & times here.
If you haven't picked up Jon Brion's latest CD, "Meaningless", now is a great time. It's showing up on many year end Top 10 lists (including Entertainment Weekly).
Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005
I hope you all went out yesterday & picked up the incredible new Magnolia score by Jon Brion. It's great to see this finally released. There's a nice introduction/liner notes by PTA & after hearing this, it just reinforces my original thoughts of how the hell this did not get nominated by the Academy.
PTA & Tom Cruise were among the nominees who attended the annual Oscar luncheon on Monday in Los Angeles as we inch closer to the show on March 26. Here's a picture from the event:
Today I added a piece from Esquire Magazine entitled "The Next Scorsese". Although it's ludicrous to make comparisons, it's fun to see who some of the top film critics selected. There is also an online poll on their site where you can cast your vote. Currently PTA resides in 2nd place behind Wes Anderson.
PTA is also featured prominently in the USA Today Life Section cover story on Oscar nominated writers who direct. I have included the article below.
Finally, Aimee Mann's appearance on Saturday Night Live has been pushed back to a later date & the latest Magnolia Box Office numbers are posted as the number of screens in the U.S. is down to 56.
Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005
Just a few tidbits today as we get closer to the much anticipated release of Jon Brion's score for Magnolia. I have obtained the tentative track listing for the CD which will be released on March 14, 2000:
1. A Little Library Music/Going to a Show 2. Showtime 3. Jimmy's Breakdown 4. WDKK Theme 5. I've Got a Surprise for You Today 6. Stanley/Frank/Linda's Breakdown 7. Chance of Rain 8. So Now Then 9. Magnolia
Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005
Great news today as it looks like the Magnolia Score will finally be released on March 14, according to the L.A. Times (see the link above). Now let's hope for an Oscar nomination for Jon Brion's incredible score....
Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005
I sat down with Paul for a bit on the set of the latest Fiona Apple video “Limp” which will be the second single & video from her critically acclaimed When the Pawn… release. This is their third collaboration together which follows “Across The Universe” & “Fast as You Can”
Greg Mariotti: Let’s talk about Magnolia. The preview screening you held in Sydney, Australia with Tom Cruise in late summer came in at 3:23. What did you trim? The worm is what I am hearing, some of the worm stuff?
Paul Thomas Anderson: Yeah, the worm stuff. There’s sort of, a little bit more of a follow through on the mystery character, who’s in it now. It’s better to remain sort of a mystery character. The brown jacket and the little kid (Dixon). And that stuff is sort of better served as something to truly think about as opposed to something to answer and in an effort to make it more mysterious and make it shorter…I just took it out.
GM: Cause I was wondering how the little kid (Dixon) got to the car where Linda Partridge was unconscious. I mean seems like that was a way different neighborhood for him to be all of a sudden over there ….
PTA: No, that really wouldn’t have been any different if you had seen anything else. No, that makes total sense in terms of the reality base of the movie. I mean it’s not as if anything is missing now.
GM: Sure so what else got trimmed? I heard that maybe the frog sequence got trimmed a little bit?
PTA: The frog sequence got trimmed, maybe like 5 minutes came out of the frog sequence and just heads and tails of film.
GM: I had read in Premiere Magazine that you made Bill Macy do like ten takes of the scene where he sticks a key a door and then turns around and slips and falls flat on his ass. I didn’t see that in the film, was that true or not true?
PTA: It’s in there. When he walks out and the key snaps off. He kinda smacks himself back into the door. We did like forty takes of it. Or something like that.
GM: And he got hit in the face with a frog quite a few times too?
PTA: Yeah, he did. Yeah. Yeah
GM: I don’t know if I told you this I just thought the film was incredibly ballsy, raw and naked.
PTA: Thank you. Thanks a lot.
GM: They are having a special screening in Seattle on the 28th of December, so I will get another opportunity to see it again before it goes into wide release on January 7th.
PTA: Great. What kind of screening is it?
GM: My guess is probably a press screening with the few critics that are up there. Speaking of critics, was there a gag order on reviews to try to keep the plot, etc. under wraps? I noticed that the Variety, Hollywood Reporter and David Anson (who gave it 3 1/2 stars) reviews have started to come out. Is that OK with you?
PTA: It’s fine, I think David Anson had to give it 3 ½ stars because he saw an earlier cut. He needed to give it a star rating for the magazine Film Comment.
GM: Tell me about this proposed Lennon biopic rumor which has been circulating for more than two years. Is this true?
PTA: No, it’s not true.
GM: So with the dance sequence in Boogie Nights and the use of Aimee Mann’s music in Magnolia, I see a musical in your future. What do you think?
PTA: Sure. Oh yeah, definitely…definitely.
GM: Any idea what’s next at all? Maybe a lean mean short of thing?
PTA: Definitely short.
GM: Yeah. Are you going to take a break for a while?
PTA: I am, I am definitely going to try. I am going to try to take, like a year off or something like that
GM: Are you going keep doing music videos?
PTA: Just for Fiona
GM: What about Michael Penn who has a new record coming out early next year?
PTA: Oh no, I would do it for Michael or Aimee or Fiona and of course John Brion.
GM: Are they going to release Jon Brion’s Magnolia score? Because I know there is an Oscar promo CD floating around.
PTA: Yeah, there is an Oscar promo but there will be a true Jon Brion musical score for Magnolia coming out in January.
GM: What about your collaboration with Jonathon Demme? What are you doin?
PTA: I can’t tell you…..
GM: All right, are you working on a script for him?
PTA: Sort of..
GM: A new script? Not a rewrite or something else like for the remake of Charade?
PTA: No. It’s so….I can’t say (chuckling under breath)
GM: Did you film the Sydney death sequence where the hostage kills him at the end of the film?
PTA: Yeah, I did.
GM: Did you also shoot the Clementine turd, story?
PTA: Yes, I did. Goddamn, that’s, how’d you know that? That’s great.
GM: It’s in the script. I read a bit about it in an interview with her and then I actually picked up the Sydney script and it was in there.
PTA: That’s great….is it in the script? Gwyneth told me that story and I just wrote it down and then we shot it. And it was just fuckin far too long.
GM: Hilarious.
PTA: She just couldn’t tell the story any faster.
GM: Why not stick it on the DVD?
PTA: I lost the footage. It’s gone somewhere….in hell with all that stuff.
GM: And you didn’t want to put your short film Cigarettes and Coffee on the DVD as sort of a precursor to Sydney?
PTA: No.
GM: OK. Why not include Johnny Doe’s death, the Becky and Jerome scene with Dirk crashing the car on the DVD (in the Deleted Scenes section) when it was one of the last things that you decided to cut. I know this was your final cut obviously but are you thinking of maybe eventually doing not a director’s cut… but maybe a fun cut…or an expanded version for people who really want to see that stuff?
PTA: I think we are going to do a new edition of the DVD. Because the directors cut is the cut of the movie.
GM: Right. But even some of the lines that got cut….I know that you cut Dirk grinding on Amber a bit in addition to all the dialogue that was altered or removed for MPAA reasons (Little Bill’s Wife & Jessie, etc.)….
PTA: You know it’s just so small. I don’t know if I really consider it exactly worth it. I might put the Becky sequence in possibly on a new Boogie Nights DVD. We might do a new version because I don’t really think it got transferred right the first time and I want to take another shot at it.
GM: Have you started to think about what you are going to do with the Magnolia DVD? Considering the length of the film that won’t leave a lot of room for extra materials unless you use the new DVD-18 or do a two disc set?
PTA: I think I will put one or two scenes that I took out. Maybe Earl Partridge’s longer monologue and the Frank Mackey seminar stuff that I took out. But I’m not going to do a commentary track for this movie.
GM: No? Do you just not want to talk about the film at length? Are you burned out talking about it?
PTA: Yeah. Totally. I just don’t want to talk about it. I’m just so proud of the movie and I think that it speak so much for itself that I should just shut up about it. We will put the Aimee Mann “Save Me” music video on there, and the trailers. I want to keep that stuff to a minimum so it allows more room for the best possible picture and sound.
GM: Are you ever going to do a real sex scene? I mean none of your films have had a real “Hollywood” type of sex scene. Maybe something like that but in a less clichéd way?
PTA: I really want to try. But I don’t want to worry about a ratings issue. I have to decide if it’s something I want to try to do within an R rating or something that I just want to period and not think about a rating.
GM: Melora Walters was incredible in this film. She completely stole the show in my opinion. I know all the early Oscar buzz is for Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore, but I really hope they seriously look at her and the job she did.
PTA: Me too. She’s incredible. I wrote the part for her. The last image in the film was the first one that I had in my mind.
GM: Did anyone pass on roles that were offered to them because I know that Rebecca Pidgeon (David Mamet’s wife) had to pass on a role because she was pregnant [this was the role of Jimmy Gator's mistress which was cut] Did anyone else pass?
PTA: There was moment where Jason Robards was too sick to do it and I offered the role to George C. Scott and he passed. And then Jason got better and I got my first choice back again which was great.
GM: Are there any actors that you are eager to work with?
PTA: Daniel Day Lewis. I think that he’s fucking awesome. I think that he’s a fantastic actor. I really want to work with him.
GM: What about Jennifer Jason Leigh? You are real good friends and I’m surprised that you haven’t worked together?
PTA: You know what. It’s just a matter of time before we get to each other. We are big fans of each other’s work. Maybe next time. I’ve been thinking about that a lot actually.
GM: What movies have you really liked the past few years?
PTA: La Promesse. I thought it was fucking incredible and amazing movie. I loved The Sixth Sense. I thought it was wonderful. I liked Eyes Wide Shut. Nothing else is popping into my head.
Bill Hader (Friend of the site): Did you see Rosetta (same filmmakers that made La Promesse)?
PTA: No, not yet. I haven't had a chance but I really want to. I can't wait to see it.
GM: How’s your DVD collection?
PTA: I got a good collection going now. I’ve got a backlog of like a hundred that I haven’t had a chance to watch because I just buy them when I’m working or I’ll never remember if I don’t buy them now.
GM: What do you think of Cookie’s Fortune and the last few Altman films?
PTA: It was okay. I liked the Gingerbread Man. I thought it was a pretty good thriller, but Cookie’s Fortune was kind of silly.
GM: The spontaneous friction scene in Sydney. A reader from the site saw this happen outside a theater in 1990….
PTA: Hey, that might be true. I was outside of Reno and my car broke down and a tow truck driver picked me up and told me that story. It could have been. That was 1991. I can’t imagine that has happened a lot of times.
GM: So do you like the cigarettes & coffee website?
PTA: It’s great. Yeah. There’s maybe one time I saw something and I wanted to correct something. It wasn’t a big deal. I was gonna call you but I didn’t get around to it. No. Everything is pretty much spot on.
GM: I made the site for me because I was sick of searching the Internet and looking for stuff on you. I wanted somewhere for people to come and find everything they could need in one resource.
PTA: I don’t know if you know this but as my press gears up. People are going to your site and clearly they are getting shit from your website. All these big time interviewers are going there and getting all this stuff. Part of its great and part of its a little scary because they’re like “You once said” and I’m like “Really, Oh shit”. Oh yeah, I might have said that!
You will have peaks and valleys just like a director. I have a feeling these next few months there are going to be a lot of people checking out the site and looking for things.
GM: Yeah, I have really noticed the press on you gearing up. There was a real nice Q & A in Madison Magazine recently. Didn’t they want you on the cover?
PTA: Yeah. I don’t want to be on the cover. That’s not my style.
GM: Your films have made a lot of covers over in the U.K. They really appreciate you and your films quite a bit. I think there movie magazines are far superior to the ones we have over here.
PTA: I totally agree. Sight and Sound especially. I am gonna do another Sight and Sound interview in a few weeks. I don’t know. I can say with great pride that they really like my movies over there.
GM: Yeah, their love of film seems stronger than ours. Much better than the fluff over here.
PTA: Yeah, there’s a lot of weird internal politics over here with articles and interviewers.
GM: Do you mind if I post some pictures of your dad as himself and as Ghoulardi on the site? I didn’t want to do it until I got your okay.
PTA: Sure. That would be fine.
GM: I appreciate you having me out here and getting a chance to interview you and see you work.
PTA: No, are you kidding? You shouldn’t appreciate it. I appreciate you and all your work on the website
Archived update from Cigarettes & Coffee, run by Greg Mariotti & CJ Wallis from 1999-2005
The Magnolia Soundtrack will be available Tuesday, December 7 everywhere. Here's a picture of the cover art and the track listings:
Tracks:
1: One - Aimee Mann, 2: Momentum - Aimee Mann, 3: Optimist, (The Fall Of The Worlds Own) - Aimee Mann, 4 Deathly - Aimee Mann, 5: Driving Sideways - Aimee Mann, 6: You Do - Aimee Mann, 7: Nothing Is Good Enough - Aimee Mann (instrumental), 8: Wise Up - Aimee Mann , 9: Save Me - Aimee Mann, 10: Goodbye Stranger - Supertramp , 11: Logical Song, The - Supertramp , 12: Magnolia - Jon Brion
