For a while now, we’ve known that Paul Thomas Anderson was hard at work on a new film. Back in April, it was revealed that Leonardo DiCaprio had passed on this mysterious new project in favor of working with Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Valley,” which he then dropped out of because he wanted to work with Martin Scorsese on “Killers of the Flower Moon”.
We only know a scant few details about PTA’s latest, which has yet to start shooting. According to Variety, Anderson began casting the film earlier in the year. The film, an ensemble piece with intersecting storylines, is said to primarily follow a young San Fernando Valley high school student who also happens to be a successful child actor.
We then had the lighting people from PTA’s last film, “Phantom Thread,” revealing that they are already scouting locations for the mysterious new movie.
Now we have some additional plot information [via the reliable Jason]:
“This film is about a child actor and will feature an older director character in the style of late-era John Huston and a closeted gay politician (might have been a congressman, forgot the specifics). There’s also a take no prisoners style female agent that casting notices described as having a few particularly juicy scenes. From casting notes seems like the closeted politician will be a major role, as many of the smaller characters seem to revolve around him.”
Will this be another sprawling mosaic in the same vein as PTA’s earlier films (“Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia”) —- both of which were also set in the San Fernando Valley? It sure looks like it.
Let’s take a look at a 2018 interview with PTA, in which he mentions some of the actors he’d love to work with on his next movie:
”Oh, god, let me just think. You know, De Niro. Robert De Niro would be amazing to work with. Jim Carrey would be amazing to work with. I'm thinking of… Charlize Theron I think is dynamite. She's so great. I'm trying to think of some other names. Jennifer Jason Leigh's one of our great actresses. I haven't had a chance to work with her. Michael Shannon, do you guys know him? He's dynamite, too.”
Focus Features was originally set to distribute the next PTA, but MGM bought the rights from them late last week.