Interview: "I Wanted To Make Myself Scared"

Spiegel, Written By nina Rehfeld
April 13th, 2003


The exceptional American director Paul Thomas Anderson about his new film “Punch-Drunk Love,” his penchant for unorthodox casting, and the connection between love and violence.

Spiegel: Mr. Anderson, you obviously like to engage apocalyptic scenarios.  In “Magnolia” there were raining frogs, and in your new film “Punch-Drunk Love” there is a type of catastrophic whirlpool, in which your lead actor Adam Sandler is the catalyst.  Where do these ideas come from?

PTA: From this secret place, where all ideas come from.  But the situation, where one is pulled into such a whirlpool, is very old: that is Buster Keaton: the little man in the middle, who has shit always flying around him.  One of the proven methods to bring verve into a story is to have a little fun.