Watch PTA's Short 'Cigarettes And Coffee'

Paul Thomas Anderson's Unseen Short Film 'Flagpole Special'

You may or may not have heard of the 1998 short film called Flagpole Special which was written and directed by PTA starring John C. Reilly and the late Chris Penn. It was only screened once and suffered from technical errors throughout.

There isn't much known about it aside from it was the overall beginnings of what would become the Frank Mackey character played by Tom Cruise. I have created a page with all available information including the only printed review of the film that is known to exist. Click here to view the page.

The Dirk Diggler Story (1988)

A 31 minute short film shot by Paul when he was just seventeen years old. It was written and shot like a Spinal Tap documentary about the rise and fall of Dirk Diggler.  It was shot on video and edited VCR to VCR. His dad narrated it (like an E! Hollywood true story). Mike Stein (a good friend who also had a small role in Boogie Nights) played Dirk Diggler. Bob Ridgely (The Colonel) played Jack Horner. The length was about 30 minutes. Rewritten as a full length movie when he was about 19-20 in the same vein but decided that the "Spinal Tap" thing was played out.

Demo Jail (2006)

A short comedy segment PTA directed for The Showbiz Show with David Spade featuring a dude trying to get Spade to listen to his band's demo tape. A possible precursor to the "Portlandia" DJ Night sketch?

Blossoms & Blood (2003)

A 12 minute assemblage of various deleted bits and alternate takes from "Punch-Drunk Love".  Originally included on the DVD.

Couch (2003)

A very silly 2 minute black and white short featuring Adam Sandler as a man shopping for a couch. Originally premiered on Sandler's official site.

SNL FANatic (2000)

A very funny parody of MTV's FANatic complete with slow motion, rock tunes in the background & lots of emotion.... PTA is a fan of SNL, Fiona was performing & he's good friends with Molly Shannon, so he thought it would be fun to put something together for the show.

Flagpole Special (1998)

This 17 minute short was shot by PTA for inclusion at the RETinevitable 1 which is held at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Paul made the film specifically for the festival at Adam Levite's request who incidentally designed the cover art for the Criterion LaserDisc & Boogie Nights 2 Disc Platinum Series DVD. The short lays the early groundwork for the Frank "TJ" Mackey character as John C. Reilly & Chris Penn spend the entire film talking about how to "Seduce and Destroy" women. Here's a brief summary of the short by Res Magazine from their Summer 1998 issue: "Paul Thomas Anderson premiered "Flagpole Special", a single seventeen-minute locked-off take on digital video of the torsos of two guys - a long haired, bicycle panted, chubby ranting about women as his pal idly strums his electric guitar. Based on a conversation Anderson found on a discarded audiotape, the characters, portrayed by actors John C. Reilly and Chris Penn, managed to keep up their inane dialogue for an irresistibly mind-boggling amount of time like a flesh-and-blood Beavis and Butthead." The press screening was ruined by an audio malfunction (see the Entertainment Weekly article below), but was eventually fixed before the screening held for the public. Here's the piece EW ran on their website.

SCREEN SHOW 

The director of "Boogie Nights" and other film notables screen their new experimental films Directors Paul Thomas Anderson ("Boogie Nights"), Atom Egoyan ("The Sweet Hereafter""), and Harmony Korine (writer of "Kids") screened their new experimental films Tuesday night in a show of short films and art installations at RET.inevitable, a sprawling art event in Brooklyn that showcased cutting- edge music and cinema. David Byrne, actor/director Vincent Gallo, and techno artist Moby were among hundreds of downtown denizens who packed the catacombs beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Films were projected on 50- foot stone walls and ceilings, while DJs mixed beats to video collages of flashy graphics intercut with scenes from such flicks as "Rollerball" and "Clueless." It was a night for young cinematic talent: The only trace of the Hollywood old guard was director Peter Bogdanovich's cameo in a short film by Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, Sofia. The directors' presentations veered from the inspired to the shocking. Egoyan's "Peep Show" used double exposures and dramatic film tinting that made it hard to follow the action. Music- video director Spike Jonze earned cheers for his hilarious short, "How They Get There," which showed how a harmless flirtation can end in a brutal car crash. Unfortunately, Anderson's eagerly anticipated work, a short video called "Flagpole Special," was ruined by an audio malfunction (Please note: this was only during the press screening. It was shown to the public with no audio problems).
Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly - Josh Wolk - 6/18/98

Cigarettes & Coffee (1993)

Paul borrowed a camera to shoot this short film. Cigarettes & Coffee premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival in the Shorts Program II. From that short, he was able to develop a feature at the Sundance Institute’s Filmmaker’s’ Workshop. The result was Hard Eight, starring Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman & Samuel L. Jackson, which screened at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.