Benicio Del Toro Also Appearing in BC Project, Apparently

An interesting tidbit tucked into the bottom of a wholly unrelated Hollywood Reporter story this morning indicates that Paul Thomas Anderson will be reuniting with Inherent Vice collaborator (and fucking brilliant actor) Benicio del Toro on the new untitled flick that is set for release next summer.

Images surfaced recently showing that the movie was still filming in southern California (remember, it started in late January!) and we speculated that that meant the movie was roughly now in the wheelhouse of time it took for principal photography to be completed for Magnolia.

So this would seem to be PTA's longest shoot in quite some time and, notably, THR says Del Toro will need to wrap up the other Anderson's new movie before joining BC Project.

So, assuming the production is not in reshoots, this could well end up being the biggest shoot of PTA's career.

Hard not to let one's imagination run away with itself when one considers what the size of this production will yield for audiences next year...

- C&RV 

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Untitled PTA Film Set For 2025 Release... IN IMAX

 

The hits keep on coming...

Today, Warner Bros announced their intention to release Paul Thomas Anderson's forthcoming 10th feature film...

...on August 8th, 2025... in IMAX...

Okay, so the first part feels... well, like a fucking eternity. bluntly. But in combination with the second part and in combination with the fact that this is by a million miles the biggest production budget PTA has ever had... and in combination with the fact that WB is deeming this an "event" indicates that the swings here really will be as big as we've all been guessing.

We still don't know what the hell the movie is, per se, and that's one of the most exciting parts of the PTA fan experience, but to editorialize, it really seems hard to imagine such resources would be poured into another pure Pynchon adaptation. And if it is that Vineland adaptation we've all been guessing on, well then Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy deserve some kind of medal of valor for pushing their chips in on something like that.

We here at C&RV will be perfectly happy with whatever subject matter that is ultimately cooked up here, of course.

But folks, let's call a spade a spade: this. is. major.

More soon, we hope/guess/think

New PTA Film Adds Alana Haim, Teyana Taylor As Filming Begins!

Production is officially underway on Paul Thomas Anderson's 10th motion picture!

While we are unable to confirm story details (i.e. if it is or is not an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland) beyond a reasonable doubt, set photos have emerged and so has casting news.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, PTA will be reuniting with his Licorice Pizza muse and longtime music video  collaborator Alana Haim in the movie - and he has also added Teyana Taylor, Shayna McHayle, Wood Harris, and up-and-comer Chase Infiniti. Goes without saying that the nature (and size) of these performers' respective roles is not known just yet, but still sweet!

The movie had been shooting up in Norther California to begin principal photography, but according to the Humbold-Del Norte Film Commission, that unit has now wrapped and the production will be moving onto other locations.

Photos and footage from the set has become quite plentiful over the last week and we trust you are all quite adept at using your Google contraptions to scavenge, but we'll include a couple as a treat below the fold.

- C&RV 

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Long-Awaited New PTA Film Finally Coming! Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Regina Hall Set To Star

Yes, we'd been hearing the whispers just like you... 

but then the actors strike happened... 

on top of the writers strike... 

PTA's long-gestating Licorice Pizza follow-up felt like it was in a precarious place. 

But the project that was hinted at gearing up as long ago as November 2022 finally appears to be at our door step, and per Deadline, it just might be a doozy (bold emphasis below is ours):

Warner Bros has Paul Thomas Anderson set to direct Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio & Sean Penn and Oscar host Regina Hall in an untitled film that will begin production January 21 in California. Anderson wrote the script, and he will produce the film with Sara Murphy.

The film is currently untitled and they’re keeping the logline under wraps. We have learned that it is a contemporary setting and it is the most commercial one that PTA has attempted, with commensurate budget. It came out of a relationship that Warner Bros Picture Group co-chair/CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy built making PTA’s last film, Licorice Pizza, while they ran MGM. That film got three Oscar noms for Best Picture, and Best Screenplay and Best Director for PTA. While DiCaprio, Penn and Hall are the leads, the new film will have a big ensemble cast that is still falling into place. Anderson has done ensemble in the past, notably with Boogie Nights, the film that De Luca shepherded when he headed production at New Line.

uhhh... Leo & Sean Penn? & Regina Hall? & a big budget?? & his first use of contemporary setting in over 20 years????

Untitled PTA #10 is already sounding... significant.

Assuming Deadline's forecast of the film starting principal photography in just under two weeks (!) is still on track, I think it's fair to expect at least some additional casting details to slip through the grapevine in the quite near future, but we shall see!

We shall see.

- C&RV 

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New Untitled PTA Project Eyeing Summer 2023 Shoot?

 

Hello!

Hope you had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday, long time no see!

This morning, multiple outlets reported news of a casting call out to an "UNTITLED CK/PTA STUDIO FEATURE FILM" on the film and television casting resource website Actorsaccess.com.

While other substantiating details remain thin, Paul Thomas Anderson's longtime casting director, Cassandra Kulukundis (the eponymous CK referenced), is indeed associated with the listing. 

What we do know is:

- the  role calls for a mixed-ethnicity teenage girl proficient in martial arts (!)

- the project in question eyes a July 1, 2023 start date.

While PTA has been known of late to take a decent amount of time between projects, he (somewhat uncharacteristically) alluded during both the Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza press tours to having a long-gestating project in the hopper, so this development is not altogether surprising, but nevertheless still very exciting!

Watch this space...

- C&RV 

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RIP Philip Baker Hall (1931 - 2022)

 

Today we've lost a great one.

Journeyman thespian and PTA favorite Philip Baker Hall has passed away at the age of 90. It's really hard to overstate the significance Hall's otherworldly acting abilities had on not just Paul Thomas Anderson's first three features but on damn near every project he ever endeavored to take on, no matter the size of role. His gravitas and grace and wry wit will be sorely missed but never forgotten and hopefully discovered anew by generations to come.

Rest easy, sir.

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C&RV 

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Licorice Pizza Wrap-up: Blu Ray Details Arrive & Final Interview Round-Up

Welp, another awards season has come and gone without any fanfare or drama (har har) and PTA still awaits his first Oscar. What else is new?

On the sunnier side of things, details have arrived for Licorice Pizza's home release. The movie is already available to own or rent on all major digital platforms but its blu-ray and DVD edition will land on May 17. A lot has already been made of this, but the length of theatrical window afforded for this movie is really remarkable given the current economic climate of the biz and was richly appreciated by the likes of folks like, well, us.

The blu-ray and DVD includes camera tests, a Fat Bernie's commercial, a behind the scenes featurette, and a deleted scene for special features. Here's the art:

Really looking forward to peeping the transfer - you can preorder here.

One last thing - here's a final interview round-up for the movie, which we promised you forever ago....

Q&A with Paul Thomas Anderson at the DGA:

PTA on The Love of Cinema podcast:

PTA on SensCritique

Co-cinematographer Michael Bauman & crew on IndieWire:

PTA on BBC: 

PTA on Increment Vice podcast:

PTA & editor Andy Jurgensen Q&A

PTA - SBIFF Q&A

PTA - Smartless Podcast

PTA, Alana Haim & Sara Murphy Q&A - SBIFF

PTA & cast virtual Q&A

PTA, cast & crew virtual Q&A

PTA & cast Q&A

PTA - Empire Film Podcast

PTA & Kenneth Branagh Q&A - SBIFF

PTA DGA Q&A

PTA & cast - final press interview (Benny Safdie included!)

Film at Lincoln Center Podcast · #390 - Paul Thomas Anderson, Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman & Benny Safdie on Licorice Pizza

Last but certainly not least, our friend Sam Fragoso at Talk Easy had a fantastic talk with Alana Haim that is very very worth your time.



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C&RV 

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New PTA-Directed HAIM Video To Play Before "Licorice Pizza" In Theatres Everywhere

 

Hello and happy weekend!

Starting tonight, movie theatres everywhere will be running a brand new HAIM music video directed by Paul Thomas Anderson in front of showings of (the now 3x-Oscar-nominated!) Licorice Pizza.

The content of the video/song has not been revealed in advance of the rollout, except the mysterious title card shared out by the movie's official social media accounts pasted above. If you needed further incentive to finally get your butt out there and see the movie (or see it a second/third/fourth/fifth time), here it is!

Also this weekend, the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica kicks off a series of films programmed and presented by PTA himself! The weekend includes in-person film introductions and Q&A's from PTA, rad double-features and is capped off by a screening of Licorice Pizza in 70mm. 

Finally, you folks probably deserve a second edition of the interview round-up, given all that's happened over the last few weeks. We'll try to get that in your hands this weekend!

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C&RV 

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Licorice Pizza: Interview Round-Up

 

"So, here's the deal. I've been lazy. Err, I haven't been lazy but I've been going nuts."

All of a sudden we are fewer than two weeks (!) away from Licorice Pizza being in wide-release in the States and there has been a raft of interviews in the ramp-up, so we figured those babies probably needed a home. So here they are. Needless to say, given the sheer volume of content, this is the mother of all spoiler alerts. Listen/watch/read at your own peril if you have not seen the movie!

AUDIO:
Paul Thomas Anderson on The New Yorker Radio Hour with David Remnick

Paul Thomas Anderson on IHeartRadio with Tim Conway, Jr. (author recommended)

Paul Thomas Anderson on KCRW's Greater LA with Steve Chiotakis

Paul Thomas Anderson on NPR's Weekend Edition with Ayesha Rascoe

Paul Thomas Anderson on The Bill Simmons Podcast with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey

VIDEO:
Paul Thomas Anderson & Alana Haim post-screening Q&A

Paul Thomas Anderson, Alana Haim & Cooper Hoffman post-screening Q&A

Alana Haim & Cooper Hoffman post-screening Q&A, with PTA intro


Paul Thomas Anderson & Alana Haim post-screening Q&A


Paul Thomas Anderson post-screening Q&A

Paul Thomas Anderson & Alana Haim post-screening Q&A

Alana Haim on Jake's Takes


Alana Haim with The AV Club

PRINT:
Paul Thomas Anderson on the Los Angeles Times

Paul Thomas Anderson on the New York Times

Paul Thomas Anderson on Vanity Fair

Paul Thomas Anderson on Thrillist

Alana Haim on the Hollywood Reporter

In non-LP interview news, our friends at the Talk Easy Podcast recently sat down for a great conversation with Vicky Krieps and she speaks in depth about collaborating with PTA on Phantom Thread. Stream that puppy here; it is well worth your time.

Oh, plus there's also this nudge nudge wink wink ;)

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C&RV 

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