"Junun" To Stream Exclusively On MUBI Starting October 9th

Variety reports that subscription based streaming platform MUBI has nabbed exclusive streaming rights for Paul Thomas Anderson's new 54-minute documentary Junun, and it will be available to watch following the film's bow at New York Film Festival on October 8th. For those who don't know, MUBI functions sort of as an online movie theatre, where 30 films are available to stream at one time, with one dropping off and another replacing it each day.

In the Variety piece, PTA is quoted as saying, "We’re huge fans of MUBI and wanted to be a part of what they do. Hopefully people will discover both the music that’s been made by Shye and Jonny and a great place to watch films." Notably, this is the most overt embrace PTA has ever publicly given to viewing films in a digital format. 

So there you have it. A new film from Paul Thomas Anderson will be ready to be seen by the general public in just two short weeks. Now would be a good time to stroll over to MUBI.com and consider subscribing.

C&RV

New PTA Film, "Junun", To Premiere At NYFF

There's been a slight (and pretty cool) epidemic, as of late, of world class filmmakers slipping their movies completely under the radar until they are edited and finished and premiering at festivals (see: Noah Baumbach). The latest director to add to that list is one Paul Thomas Anderson whose mysterious India exploits with Jonny Greenwood were actually the fruits of his first-ever documentary.

That's right... PTA made a documentary! The film is called Junun and will premiere at the 53rd New York Film Festival in the Special Events category. It comes in just under an hour long and here's  NYFF website has to say about it:

Paul Thomas Anderson, USA, 2015, DCP, 54m

English, Hindu, Hebrew, and Urdu with English subtitles

Earlier this year, Paul Thomas Anderson joined his close friend and collaborator Jonny Greenwood on a trip to Rajasthan in northwest India, where they were hosted by the Maharaja of Jodhpur, and he brought his camera with him. Their destination was the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort, where Greenwood (with the help of Radiohead engineer Nigel Godrich) was recording an album with Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and an amazing group of musicians: Aamir Bhiyani, Soheb Bhiyani, Ajaj Damami, Sabir Damami, Hazmat, and Bhanwaru Khan on brass; Ehtisham Khan Ajmeri, Nihal Khan, Nathu Lal Solanki, Narsi Lal Solanki, and Chugge Khan on percussion; Zaki Ali Qawwal, Zakir Ali Qawwal, Afshana Khan, Razia Sultan, Gufran Ali, and Shazib Ali on vocals; and Dara Khan and Asin Khan on strings. The finished film, just under an hour, is pure magic. Junun lives and breathes music, music-making, and the close camaraderie of artistic collaboration. It’s a lovely impressionistic mosaic and a one-of-a-kind sonic experience: the music will blow your mind. World Premiere

Notably, as you'll see in the photographs in the above link in this post, PTA shot this one (at least in part) digitally. We can't wait to see what his first outing in that format yielded. With Pinocchio potentially getting underway soon, the fact that PTA has kept busy with this and the Joanna Newsom music video is very exciting. Stay tuned!

(Thanks to Joe for the heads up)

C&RV

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(This was updated to reflect the film's running time as well as a fuller synopsis)

UPDATE: AND TICKETS TO THE PREMIERE ARE AVAILABLE HERE.

LISTEN: "On Cinema" Masterclass with Paul Thomas Anderson

[UPDATE: You can listen to a much higher-quality recording HERE.]

Some late Monday evening business for y'all.

Audio has finally surfaced via our old friend Modage, the hour-long masterclass discussion PTA partook in during the 52nd New York Film Festival earlier this month. Hear it in its entirety above. We have not yet screened it for spoilers, so listen at your own peril.

Refresher: The clips PTA selected for the talk were from Jim Abrahams and David & Jerry Zucker's Police Squad!, Neil Young's Journey Through the Past, Alex Cox's Repo Man, Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, the music video work of Emily Kai Bock, and Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of General Yen.


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IV (theatrical premiere): 45 days

Find more information about the film on our Inherent Vice page. 

Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates

Inherent Vice To Screen At AFI Fest

After a vibrant world premiere at the New York Film Festival, Deadline reports that Inherent Vice is heading west; the film is set for a gala screening at the AFI Fest in Hollywood on November 8th in The Egyptian Theatre.

The fest runs November 6 - November 13 and will feature a talk with PTA as well, so keep your sights on this one!

Join the film on Twitter at @seeinherentvice
On Facebook

And at www.inherentvicemovie.com

IV (theatrical premiere): 58 days

Find more information about the film on our Inherent Vice page. 

Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates

First Look At Reese Witherspoon In "Inherent Vice"; Bigfoot Speaks More

The New Yorker

Hey there - few things to take care of, so let's get right to it.

-Above is a pretty groovy illustration from the most recent issue of The New Yorker for a piece about the New York Film Festival, which begins this Friday, September 26. Some critical thinking has led us to conclude that the two blue figures are from Gone Girl while the two green figures are from Inherent Vice.

- The one star of the film that has spoken rather freely about his impressions from the set is Josh Brolin, who plays Bigfoot Bjornsen, of course. He had some interesting things to say in a piece about the film found in The Los Angeles Daily News recently. The bullet points:

"I read the book as fast as I could before I saw Paul, which means I might as well have not read it," Brolin, 46, admits, "I was so confused by the time he came, I was like stuttering through the whole thing. It was like trying to have a meeting after you've taken a bong hit or something.

Brolin describes the story's vibe as something in "Manson territory."

"It's during the time of of the shattering of the ‘Right Stuff’ mentality into whatever revolution that conjures in you, whether that’s the assassinations or the sexual revolution or drugs, all that. It’s that transition," he says.

"This guy Bigfoot is one of the favorite characters I’ve ever played... He’s a guy that, five years earlier, would have looked like one of the ‘Right Stuff’ guys. But because of his refusal to adjust to any future that doesn’t look like he wanted it to look, he’s kind of pathetic.” 

"It’s a really circus experience,” Brolin says of the production. “It feels like traveling from city to city and putting together skits. You never really know if it’s going to work when you finally do it. And then if you’re doing something like Pynchon, which just naturally has that structure anyway, it’s sort of double wacky.” 

- Last, but certainly not least, The Film Stage has obtained our first look at Reese Witherspoon as Penny Kimball in Inherent Vice. Click below the fold and see at your own discretion.

NYFF Director Shares New Photo of Joaquin In "Vice", Further Impressions of the Film

Hullo.

We tossed this up on our social media outlets but were a couple days late to getting it on the ol' site, so here it is: Kent Jones, the director of the New York Film Festival, where Inherent Vice will premiere in 42 days' time, has shared a brand spankin' new photo of Joaquin Phoenix as Doc Sportello, which you can see above. In addition, he went on to reveal the personal response he had watching the film.

On the selection process...

I saw that there were a lot of good movies from American filmmakers. First of all, three great New York movies: Time Out of Mind, Heaven Knows What, and Whiplash. Then there’s Birdman, which is another kind of great New York movie, and a great Broadway movie by the way and a beautiful movie about theater. And then there's Gone Girl and Inherent Vice. Gone Girl is this panoramic, phantasmagorical, acid trip of a movie that keeps shifting gears for an amazing cinematic ride. Inherent Vice is also, in a completely different way. It’s like being in a time machine, going back to the time of mutton chops and Neil Young.

On watching Inherent Vice for the first time...

Wild movie. You know, it’s the first [Thomas] Pynchon film adaptation, and it really catches his tone. It really catches the antic nature of him: the crazy names of characters, the nutty behavior, and then also the emotional undertone. It has the flavor of Pynchon. It has this Big Lebowski element to one side of it, but the emotional undertone, the desperation, the paranoia, and the yearning in the film... [Paul Thomas Anderson's] an absolutely amazing filmmaker and it’s incredible to see him responding to someone else’s creation and then building his own creation out of it. He sort of did that with There Will Be Blood, but not really. It’s his own movie, inspired by the novel Oil!

I was born in 1960, but I certainly remember 1971 very well and I gotta say, from the minute the movie started to the minute it ended, I was back—way back—to the point where I was thinking “Gee, my son was born in the ’90s.” So it’s a different kind of relationship that he would have. It’s an amazing piece of work, and at this point Joaquin Phoenix and Paul have something so rare between them as an actor and director, and Sam Waterston’s daughter, Katherine, is in it, and she’s riveting every minute she’s on screen. It’s quite a film.

IV (theatrical premiere): 111 days

IV (world premiere): 42 days

Find more information about the film on our Inherent Vice page. 
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First Glimpse of Josh Brolin in 'Vice'; Film Clocks In At 148 Minutes

At last! We have a rough first glimpse of what Josh Brolin will look like as Bigfoot Bjornsen in Paul Thomas Anderson's forthcoming Inherent Vice, via a small piece on the film in the most recent edition of Entertainment Weekly:

Following the Oscar nods and "Is it really about Scientology?" innuendo that greeted his 2012 film The Master, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson takes a left turn into '70s noir - and a cloud of marijuana smoke - with his psychedelic crime romp Inherent Vice. Adapted from Thomas Pynchon's gonzo 2009 novel, Vice stars Joaquin Phoenix as Larry "Doc" Sportello, a shambling SoCal PI investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend's wealthy boyfriend. Along the way, he uncovers a pileup of conspiracies and faked deaths, heroin cartels and pimps. The cast includes Josh Brolin as a hippie-hating L.A. cop, Owen Wilson as a surf-band saxophonist, and Reese Witherspoon as a deputy DA and Doc's part-time squeeze.

Anderson draws inspiration from a certain hard-boiled Raymond Chandler classic as well as the stoner stalwarts behind Up in Smoke. "Paul said it has elements of The Long Goodbye and Cheech & Chong," says Katherine Waterston, the newcomer (and daughter of Law & Order's Sam Waterston) who plays the femme fatale. "It's hard to explain tonally." (Maybe The Bong Goodbye?) And in a film that swings between suspense and absurdity, prepare for a bit of magical realism. "A piece of fruit plays a major role. It's frozen. And it's my friend," teases Brolin. "Even talking about it now is making me chuckle."

In announcing its full slate lineup, The New York Film Festival provided a nice writeup on Inherent Vice, which will be the fest's centerpiece screening in its world premiere.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s wild and entrancing new movie, the very first adaptation of a Thomas Pynchon novel, is a cinematic time machine, placing the viewer deep within the world of the paranoid, hazy L.A. dope culture of the early ’70s. It’s not just the look (which is ineffably right, from the mutton chops and the peasant dresses to the battered screen doors and the neon glow), it’s the feel, the rhythm of hanging out, of talking yourself into a state of shivering ecstasy or fear or something in between. Joaquin Phoenix goes all the way for Anderson (just as he did in The Master) playing Doc Sportello, the private investigator searching for his ex-girlfriend Shasta (Katherine Waterston, a revelation), menaced at every turn by Josh Brolin as the telegenic police detective “Bigfoot” Bjornsen. Among the other members of Anderson’s mind-boggling cast are Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Martin Short, Owen Wilson, and Jena Malone. A trip, and a great American film by a great American filmmaker. 

 The fest also verified a 148 minute run time for Inherent Vice.

There you have it. It's done and it's coming.

IV (theatrical premiere): 119 days

IV (world premiere): 50 days

Find more information about the film on our Inherent Vice page. 
Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates

OFFICIAL: "Inherent Vice" To Have World Premiere At NYFF

Mere days after rumors started swirling, Variety is reporting that Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice will in fact have its world premiere on October 4th, at the 52nd annual New York Film Festival, as the fest's centerpiece gala.

UPDATE: As Timothy pointed out in our comments, festival director Kent Jones said in this article that Inherent Vice as “a journey through the past, bringing the texture of the early ‘70s SoCal counterculture back to full-blown life. It’s a wildly funny, deeply soulful, richly detailed, and altogether stunning movie.” 

You might want to start thinking about booking flights and hotels.

IV (theatrical premiere): 146 days

IV (world premiere): 77 days

Find more information about the film on our Inherent Vice page. 
Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates

'Vice' Rumored For NYFF; More Insider Reactions Revealed

Paul Thomas Anderson at the New York Festival, 1997.

With Inherent Vice's theatrical release just a hair under five months away, questions have begun to percolate as to where ( or if ) the film will have a festival premiere. The Cannes Film Festival back in May proved an unrealistic mesh with the film's post-production schedule, with an anonymous source at Hollywood Elsewhere suggesting PTA was more comfortable with a late summer premiere at Telluride, Venice, and/or Toronto film festivals. Any of those festivals could still prove to be where PTA chooses to unveil the new movie, but according to new reporting from Hollywood Elsewhere, a slight curveball may be coming in the near future, with an exclusive 2014 New York Film Festival premiere in the works:

There's convincing chatter about Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, David Fincher's Gone Girl, and [Christopher] Nolan's Interstellar debuting at the New York Film Festival, although the most recent buzz says that Interstellar could play Telluride first. But the other two are thought to be NYFF exclusives.

PTA notably brought both Boogie Nights and Punch-Drunk Love to the New York Film Festival in 1997 and 2002, respectively, so it is not much of a stretch to conceive that Vice could play there as well.

Hollywood Elsewhere also reported yesterday that word about Vice is continuing to reverberate within the industry:

Last night I spoke to a friend who knows a woman who recently saw Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice... Her initial nutshell reaction was that she "didn't get it" because...well, how could I know? But one of the apparent blockages was that it doesn't adhere to a precise narrative through-line that led anywhere in particular (i.e. no third-act payoff). But then she started to understand it a bit more when she began to think about it the next day. A film that's more about the journey than the destination. I told this guy that three months ago an industry friend who'd seen Vice had described it in a similar way, calling it "brilliant and mesmerizing in an atmospheric, non-linear sort of way"as well as "Lebowski-esque"

We'd say that sounds just like PTA.

The 52nd annual New York Film Festival will run September 26 - October 12.
The 41st annual Telluride Film Festival will run August 29 - September 1.
The 71st annual Venice Film Festival will run August 27 - September 6.
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival will run September 4 - September 14.

Not too much longer and we'll know which -- if any -- of these festivals will score an Inherent Vice slot in their lineup.

In the meantime...

IV: 157 days

Find more information about the film on our Inherent Vice page. 
Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates

‘The Master' Not Playing Venice Or TIFF

Over the last two days the lineups for Toronto and Venice Film Festival's have been unveiled and it looks like neither one managed to score "The Master." Though TIFF seemed like a long shot in recent days, Venice came as more of a shock. We knew that the festival was chasing the film along with the new efforts from Terrence Malick and Brian DePalma, and while it looks like they got their other two choices, PTA's latest is the whale they just couldn't catch. Curiously (and probably frustratingly for those attending) Variety had initially announced "The Master" as being part of the lineup only to retract that statement shortly afterwards. (via @ThePlaylist) Anybody know what happened there? Please pass it along.

Update 8/27: Festival director Alberto Barbera says the film will not play the festival. “I didn’t mention the film. Nobody mentioned the film. It is not in any of our sections.” (via @manuyanezm)

Update 10:40am: A commenter informs us that Venice Festival Director "Alberto Barbera said at the press conference there is one more movie in competition that will be announced in the next few days." So it's still possible "The Master" could bet that film. Standby for heart-attack.

And then there were two. Back in March we ran down the odds on which festivals we thought were most likely to land the film and at the time gave the New York Film Festival the best odds while calling Fantastic Fest a long shot. Obviously some new information has come to light which seems to tip the scales in the other direction. Though it is possible, it doesn't seem likely that the film would play at both fests. (It should be noted that "Melancholia" did this last year but had also played at Cannes, TIFF, opened in France and premiered on VOD by that time too.) Because NYFF is so late in the year, it's really the last major festival and the selection is usually culled from Cannes favorites and a few repeats from Venice/TIFF with a few high profile premieres sprinkled in.

The Festival Route: We Run Down The Odds

We now know that "The Master" will receive a October 12th release, most likely limited opening in NY/LA before expanding wider in the following weeks. It'll be going up against the Ryan Gosling noir "The Gangster Squad" and a Kevin James comedy called "Here Comes The Boom." As far as history is concerned this date puts it in the company of films like "Punch-Drunk Love," "The Social Network," "A Serious Man," "Where The Wild Things Are," "The Skin I Live In," "Martha Marcy May Marlene" and "Rachel Getting Married," all recent examples of challenging fare that doesn't strike us as your typical awards bait. So while we know where we'll be lining up on October 12, what we don't know yet for certain is whether the film will have its premiere at a festival (or several) along the way. With 196 days to go, we thought we'd run down the list of possibilities and what the odds are of "The Master" showing up on the festival circuit.

Cannes Film Festival (May 16 - 27)
The Vibe: Arguably the most prestigious film festival in the world. A mix of World Cinema auteurs (Von Trier, Haneke, etc.) and splashy Hollywood premieres ("Midnight In Paris," "Pirates of the Carribean").
The History: "Hard Eight" played Cannes (after it had premiered at Sundance) and "Punch-Drunk Love" had its World Premiere here back in 2002.
The Odds: Many have speculated (maybe just wishful thinking?) that "The Master" will show up on the Croisette this year but we think it's unlikely. The full lineup won't be announced 'till April 19 but we think May is awfully early for the film, which as of February was still being scored. And with all the secrecy surrounding the project we find it hard to believe they'd want to let the cat out of the bag this early.
Verdict: Long shot.

Venice Film Festival (August 29 - Sept 8)
The Vibe: Yet another long-running prestigious international film festival, Venice is also heavy on auteurs from around the world but in recent years has become home for films looking for the first stop on the Fall awards circuit. Last year's fest held premieres of "Shame," "The Ides of March," and "Tinker Tailor Solider Spy" among others.
The History: None of PTA's films have premiered here.
The Odds: Though he doesn't have a history with the fest, we wouldn't entirely rule out "The Master" showing up for a Venice premiere. Not only would it be a nice little vacation for the crew but would help to build the buzz stateside making U.S. critics envious of their international counterparts. However August/early September is still a little early if PTA intends to keep his packaged unwrapped as long as he can.
Verdict: Possible.

Telluride Film Festival (August 31 - Sept 3)
The Vibe: A festival that caters mainly for press and industry types features a mix of Awards contenders and more esoteric fare though the lineup is kept secret until the festival begins.
The History: Unless we're mistaken none of his films have played here though a 20 minute reel from "There Will Be Blood" was shown in 2007 as part of a Daniel Day-Lewis tribute.
The Odds: Though films like "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Descendants" have received a huge boost from playing Telluride, we just don't see this as a proper venue for "The Master" premiere. Telluride is mainly thought of as a fest for rich folks and that just doesn't strike us as PTA's style.
Verdict: Long shot.

Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 6 - 16)
The Vibe: One of the largest film festivals in the world. This is where many critics and audiences get their first look at the films that will be coming out over the next few months. It may not be the first festival to play them but the range and quality of films showcased here is extraordinary.
The History: "Boogie Nights" premiered here and "Punch-Drunk Love" played here after its Cannes premiere.
The Odds: It might be a no-brainer to bring "The Master" here a few weeks before its theatrical release but with a lineup that includes over 300 films all vying for awards attention, it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle. The most buzzed about film to play during TIFF back in 2010 was a film that didn't play the fest at all. "The Social Network" famously had a critics screening in NYC during the festival where journalists flew from Toronto to New York and back in the same day just to catch the film, which could make holding back the film an even smarter play.
Verdict: Possible.

Fantastic Fest (Sept 20 - 27)
The Vibe: Genre festival started in 2005 by Tim League of the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX that showcases horror, sci-fi, fantasy, action and cult films from around the world.
The History: "There Will Be Blood" famously had its World Premiere here as a Secret Screening back in September of 2007. Harry Knowles from AICN is closely linked with the fest and was able to book "Magnolia" at his first ever "Butt-Numb-A-Thon" 24 hour film festival back in 1999.
The Odds: Though "The Master" doesn't appear to fit into any of those genres, neither did "There Will Be Blood" despite the horror influences. We suspect that the decision to book the fest was a last minute decision to show it off in front of famously enthusiastic Austin film fans and not necessarily a strategy that they'll employ twice.
Verdict: Long shot.

New York Film Festival (Sept 28 - Oct 14)
The Vibe: A mix of favorites from Cannes and the Fall festivals that take place beforehand, the NYFF's relatively small lineup (about 30 films in the main section) and highbrow leanings make it a good place to have a splashy premiere and not feel like you're going to be lost in the shuffle.
The History: "Boogie Nights" played here after premiering at TIFF and "Punch-Drunk Love" closed the festival in 2002 after playing at Cannes and TIFF.
The Odds: Despite some WTF selections ("Hereafter"? "My Week With Marilyn"?) and omissions ("Black Swan," "There Will Be Blood"), NYFF is still thought of as a prestigious festival to be a part of and they have had a history of playing his films so it might make sense to roll it out during the fest right before a NY/LA opening. However, 'TWBB''s curious omission from the 2007 lineup (and surprise screening in Austin around the same timeframe) might mean they have other plans.
Verdict: Very possible.

Of course, the other option is to skip the festival route altogether. "There Will Be Blood" sidestepped all the major Fall festivals and still went on to being PTA's highest grossing and most acclaimed film. "The Master" isn't going to have any trouble stirring up attention and traveling the festival circuit also runs the risk of 'peaking too early.'

If the team behind the film just decide to have a couple of screenings (like they did for "There Will Be Blood" at The Castro in San Francisco and secretly in Austin), that would be just fine with us. With the curiosity surrounding the film - it appeared on nearly every site's Most Anticipated list for 2012 despite not even knowing at the time that it would be released this year - the festivals probably need the film more than it needs them. What do you think?

Check out our updated "The Master" cast and follow the entire history of the project here.

Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates.

Interview: New York Film Festival Q&A

New York Film Festival Q&A, Transcribed By Shaun Sages & Todd Parker
October 5th, 2002


This is a loose transcription of the New York Film Festival Q & A.

>> Since "Punch-Drunk Love" doesn't feature your regular material, such as the "Clementine Loop", or actors like Phillip Baker Hall and John C. Reilly, do you consider it to break the tradition of your previous three films?

PTA: It breaks from the tradition only in that they're not in it. But just because there was really no parts for them in the story…Um…Phil Hoffman is in it, and so is Luis Guzman. There's just nowhere to put the others really.

>> Why did you choose to shoot the film in scope?

PTA: Well, that decision happened a long time ago, when I was a youngster. I thought to myself, if its a movie, why should it look like television? And there's really nothing better than when that curtain opens ALL THE WAY UP.

>> Why is there a car crash in the beginning?

That's just something you write to get going, like, you need something to START. Joel Silver, a guy that, y’know, makes “those kind of movies”, I once heard him say that every movie should start with a BANG, and that just made sense to me.

>> The pudding story is a true thing that happened...is there anything else in the movie that's based on real events?

Um...no, the pudding story is the touchstone of truth in this movie. (audience laughs)

>> Can you talk about the colors in the film. What they're derived from?

PTA: From an acid experience that I've had in 1967. (Laughs) They're just art by Jeremy Blake. I've seen his work…I had just kind of a…like a bad idea of some color. But it was really bad and I didn't know what to do. But then I saw this Jeremy Blake art, he does these installations I saw at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Classy stuff. I thought that was really phenomenal stuff.

>> When did the blue suit come in?

PTA: Uh. We kinda had a little obsession for different Technicolor musicals. And if you've watched many of them, there always seems to be a standard blue suit. There's a great blue suit in "Bandwagon", and I can remember seeing that and saying 'I want that color blue.'

>> How convinced were you that Adam had what was it takes to do this certain type of role?

PTA: Yeah. I was never convinced that it would be anything but wonderful working with him, because I think that's when…you respond to someone as an actor but you wanna make sure that you like being around them, cause you're gonna be around them a lot. You're going to be, y'know, you're gonna be in love with each other for two years or however long it's gonna take. I think Adam and I work in similar ways with alotta the same people and a close group. Adam is kind of in charge of his movies, and I'm sort of in charge with my movies. So you know you're coming from a similar place. A similar works ethic. And that's critical when you're jumping to do it. Does that answer your question?

>> I wanted to know when you were convinced…

PTA: Oh, when I was…Yeah. Yeah. From the beginning. Absolutely.

>> Let's talk about the score. Did you know what the sound was gonna be like while you were shooting?

PTA: Yeah. I worked with Jon Brion when I was writing the movie as well to talk about ideas and notions, what might sound right or good for the movie. And he would do 8-minute chunks of stuff, and it was really nice to have in going to shoot the movie because…if you don't know what the fuck you're doing you're just gonna turn to the music and kinda let it guide you a little bit. And it really helped Adam and Emily, I think, to know…if you kinda know what music is gonna happen there an actor can know how little they have to get away with. Y'know. Like, 'Okay, so that's gonna happen there.' So it's just kinda like attacking it a little bit like you're making a musical, y'know, even though it's not really a musical…just kinda pretend that it is. It becomes helpful. I know Adam is really a musical person, too. So it helped. And then some of the stock sound is just amazing where we shot. We shot in that warehouse, it's kind of an amazing place deep in the Valley. There's a railroad nearby. There's a mountain nearby. Some of the sounds are just natural sounds of the environment…it's just putting the microphone in the right place.

>> Why does Adam wear the blue suit for the whole movie?

(long pause, laughter) Um, you just need the brightest colors you can in a love story like this, I guess.

>> Luis, can you compare working with Paul to working with Brian De Palma? What's different?

LUIS: Um...Brian De Palma directs the movie. Paul directs and writes the movie. He creates the movie, the whole thing, everything comes from him. And he's so amazing to work with because he’s got everything down, and he’s become like a master at this, already. Paul, give me twenty dollars.

>> How did this character sort of develop, or come into shape…come into being. What did you start with? Was there a story or an incident that kinda came in? What was the process of developing the character.

PTA: Uh. Well. Well. I'm trying to remember. I don't remember maybe what might have started it, maybe some loose ideas or notions, but the real trigger was Adam. And then writing it while talking to Adam on the telephone…I went to Hawaii to write the movie and I was there writing it while Adam was working. And, uh, just the - - I don't know - - that's just the way it goes. Y'know. You're just farting around in things that make you laugh, or things that entertain you, or seem interesting and seemed interesting to him and back and forth and then…just collaborating with someone and then once I finished the script then we really started to kinda collaborate and figure out what the hell we were doing.

Adam: I think what happened was, Paul talked to me about the idea, but didn't really tell me much. While he was writing it, he let me hear...on occasion I would speak to him on the phone and he would say 'I wrote a good scene today.' And I'd say, 'Oh yeah? Well, what happens.' He'd go, 'Well I don't wanna tell ya'. And I'd say, 'Well, can you gimme a line?' And he'd say, 'Alright. Page 41, you say 'Sure, why not?'' Ok. I know I like to say 'Sure, why not? 'But now I don't want to. (Laughs) And then, uh, Paul actually came up to my house and he said 'I finished.' I went into my living room, he went away, I just read it and every page I kept going 'Man, what is gonna happen?' I kept asking 'Do I die in it? Do I kill somebody?' I was baffled, though, but it was nice. Paul and I became good friends, even before he showed me the script…talking about it, talking about it…getting to know each others lives. And we just had long conversations about Barry Egan. I learned a lot from Paul, and then I just tried to have fun with it.

>> Im a little confused, exactly why does Emily Watson fall for Adam. What's the reasoning behind her choosing him?

PTA: I think he just called you unattractive.

ADAM: Hey buddy, who are you to call me unattractive?

(audience laughs, the guy stammers trying to rephrase his question)

PTA: The real question is, who wouldn't fall in love with this guy?

>> This film is much shorter than your last two...what was the reason for switching editors?

I worked with an editor named Dylan Tichenor, and now Im working with Leslie Jones and you want to know if that's why the movie’s shorter? This movie was five hours long before Leslie Jones got a hold of it. There she is, in the balcony. She's a totally cool, beautiful woman.

(gives her applause, the audience joins in)

Come on, she deserves more than that!

(audience applauds harder)

>> How long did this film take to shoot?

Pretty long actually. We were doing it right at the time of the supposed actors strike. “The actors are gonna strike! We've gotta make movies!!!” So we shot some stuff, but then Adam had to go do Deeds, and Emily had to go do Gosford Park, but it was kind of an advantage, because  I got to look over all of the footage and kind of handle it the way Woody Allen and Stanley Kubrick did. And then they came back and we shot the second part.

>> When you look at the film now, can you really tell the difference between the footage you shot first and the second part of the footage?

No...I really don't. Because, its all one experience, y’know?

>> (holding up a script) I have a script!

Um, give it to Joe Roth. Joe? Oh, yeah, he's sitting about three rows down from you. Just give it to him. Yeah.