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BIOGRAPHY

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON

Paul Thomas AndersonDirector | Writer | Producer

Date of Birth 26 June 1970, Studio City, California, USA
Nickname PTA
Height 5' 10½" (1.79 m)


Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making 8 mm films, Anderson cut his teeth shooting films on video and editing them from V.C.R. to V.C.R.

Part of Anderson's artistic D.N.A. comes from his father, who hosted a late night horror show in Cleveland. His father knew a number of oddball celebrities such as Robert Ridgely, an actor who often appeared in Mel Brooks' films and would later play "The Colonel" in Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). Anderson was also very much shaped by growing up in "The Valley", specifically the suburban San Fernando Valley of greater Los Angeles. The Valley may have been immortalized in the 1980s for its mall-hopping "Valley Girls", but for Anderson it was a slightly seedy part of suburban America. You were close to Hollywood, yet you weren't there. Would-bes and burn-outs populated the area. Anderson's experiences growing up in "The Valley" have no doubt shaped his artistic self, especially since three of his four theatrical features are set in the Valley.

Anderson got into film-making at a young age. His most significant amateur film was The Dirk Diggler Story (1988), a sort of mock-documentary a la This Is Spinal Tap (1984), about a once-great pornography star named Dirk Diggler. After enrolling in N.Y.U.'s film program for two days, Anderson got his tuition back and made his own short film, Cigarettes & Coffee (1993). He also worked as a production assistant on numerous commercials and music videos before he got the chance to make his first feature, something he liked to call Hard Eight (1996), but would later become known to the public as "Hard Eight". The film was developed and financed through The Sundance Lab, not unlike Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992). Anderson cast three actors whom he would continue working with in the future: Altman veteran Philip Baker Hall, the husky and lovable John C. Reilly and, in a small part, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who so far has been featured in all four of Anderson's films. The film deals with a guardian angel type (played by Hall) who takes down-on-his-luck Reilly under his wing. The deliberately paced film featured a number of Anderson trademarks: wonderful use of source light, long takes and top-notch acting. Yet the film was reedited (and retitled) by Rysher Entertainment against Anderson's wishes. It was admired by critics, but didn't catch on at the box office. Still, it was enough for Anderson to eventually get his next movie financed. "Boogie Nights" was, in a sense, a remake of "The Dirk Diggler Story", but Anderson threw away the satirical approach and instead painted a broad canvas about a makeshift family of pornographers. The film was often joyous in its look at the 1970s and the days when pornography was still shot on film, still shown in theatres, and its actors could at least delude themselves into believing that they were movie stars. Yet "Boogie Nights" did not flinch at the dark side, showing a murder and suicide, literally in one (almost) uninterrupted shot, and also showing the lives of these people deteriorate, while also showing how their lives recovered.

Anderson not only worked with Hall, Reilly and Hoffman again, he also worked with Julianne Moore, Melora Walters, William H. Macy and Luis Guzmán. Collectively, Anderson had something that was rare in U.S. cinema: a stock company of top-notch actors. Aside from the above mentioned, Anderson also drew terrific performances from Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, two actors whose careers were not exactly going full-blast at the time of "Boogie Nights", but who found themselves to be that much more employable afterwards.

The success of "Boogie Nights" gave Anderson the chance to really go for broke in Magnolia (1999), a massive mosaic that could dwarf Altman's Nashville (1975) in its number of characters.

Anderson was awarded a "Best Director" award at Cannes for Punch-Drunk Love (2002).

[Camel cigarettes] All smoking characters in Anderson's early movies smoke Camel cigarettes - Philip Baker Hall smokes Camel Filters in Hard Eight (1996), William H. Macy smokes Camel Lights in Magnolia (1999).
Frequently uses the Iris In/Out film technique. This technique has one part of the scene encircled, while the rest is black. Also used during the silent film era as a way of opening and closing shots.
Frequently uses extended takes
Most of his early films are set in the San Fernando Valley, California
Most of his early films feature large ensemble casts, often featuring Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzmán, and/or Melora Walters.
[Recurring names] Paul Thomas Anderson has used Philip Seymour Hoffman in five films and Jon Brion in four films; Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Melora Walters and Luis Guzmán in three films; Alfred Molina, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Ricky Jay, Michael Penn, Mary Lynn Rajskub, 'Kevin J. O'Connor (I)', David Warshofsky, Paul F. Tompkins and Joaquin Phoenix in two films.
Often shoots very wide angles and moving tracking shots


Father, Ernie Anderson, was a local celebrity in Cleveland, where he hosted horror shows using the name "Ghoulardi".
Son of Ernie Anderson.
Lived in Los Angeles, USA with girlfriend Fiona Apple. He directed Apple in the video for her cover of "Across the Universe", which was part of the soundtrack for the movie, Pleasantville (1998).
Dropped out of NYU's film program after two days. Subsequently got his tuition payment back and used the money to make Cigarettes & Coffee (1993).
He shaves his head before SOME productions. He did not shave his head before the production of Magnolia (1999), as evidenced in the documentary on the DVD.
His favorite all-time film is Network (1976).
For the brief time he was at NYU film school, he handed in some of Pulitzer Prize-winner David Mamet's work as his own. When he got it back with a "C" grade he decided to leave.
Tom Cruise got him on to the set of Eyes Wide Shut (1999). He spent the day there and got to talk to Stanley Kubrick.
Despite the constant comparison between them amongst fans, he and fellow director Quentin Tarantino are great friends. Furthermore, Tarantino has praised Anderson's work, calling him a "filmmaking artist.".
Is a big fan of Adam Sandler and his movies.
He has three children with his partner Maya Rudolph: daughter Pearl Minnie Anderson (b. October 15, 2005), daughter Lucille Anderson (b. November 6, 2009), and son Jack Anderson (b. July 3, 2011).
Cites Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme as his biggest influences and considers both to be the greatest American film directors.
Was employed as a standby director for A Prairie Home Companion (2006) for insurance purposes, and in the event that ailing 80-year-old director Robert Altman was unable to finish shooting.
Attended Emerson College in Boston, Mass.
Directed 7 actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in There Will Be Blood (2007).
Fan and personal friend of Aimee Mann. He used the song "Christmastime" performed by Mann in Hard Eight (1996), and many of her songs in the Magnolia (1999) soundtrack.
Is a big fan of Major League Baseball. His favorite teams are his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers and his late father's favorite team, the Boston Red Sox.
(February 17, 2013) Paul and Maya Rudolph are expecting their fourth child.
Over the 7 movies he has directed/wrote; he has directed 7 actors to an Oscar Nomination. This equates to an Oscar Nomination for Acting for every movie he has made.
Sam Mendes calls him "a true auteur".
Time magazine compared There Will Be Blood (2007) to "the greatest achievements" of D.W. Griffith and John Ford.
Once described Magnolia (1999) as "for better or worse, the best movie I'll ever make".
Cites Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Jonathan Demme, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, and Max Ophüls as his main influences as a filmmaker.
A longtime Thomas Pynchon devotee.
His English teacher at Emerson College was renowned writer David Foster Wallace. Anderson has described him as the only teacher he ever loved, and stated in an interview with Marc Maron that his dropping out of Emerson College after a year was largely due to Wallace having left.
Got the initial idea for Hard Eight (1996) after watching Philip Baker Hall in Midnight Run (1988) according to a 2008 'Esquire' article: "In the summer of 1988, for example, when Midnight Run (1988) came out. It was a fairly formulaic action-comedy, and Martin Brest wasn't even close to Anderson's pantheon of cool directors, but one thing caught his eye: a little-known actor named Philip Baker Hall. In four very brief scenes, Hall plays a Las Vegas consigliere who keeps trying to convince his godfather not to whack people. His name was Sidney. "I don't think you should do this," he says in one scene. In another, he uses the curiously formal diction that seems to have hit Anderson in the place where he vibrates to the rhythms of David Mamet: "I'm supposed to advise you against such acts."".
Was described as 'his evil twin bother' by Daniel Day-Lewis when Day-Lewis was accepting the Critics' Choice Award for best actor for his performance in There Will Be Blood in 2008.
He is the only Director to win a best director prize at each of the big European film festivals. He won at Cannes for Punch Drunk Love, at Berlin for There Will be Blood, and at Venice for The Master.