A few years ago, Paul Thomas Anderson stated that he was ready to shoot a new film in 2020, but had a change of heart, and decided it was too “bleak” a project to make at the time, especially during a pandemic, and opted to helm “Licorice Pizza” instead.
The big rumor was that the mysterious project PTA tossed aside was set in the 1940s Jazz scene, tackling the “Little Harlem” Renaissance, and that Denzel Washington was being eyed to star in the lead role.
In an interview with Classic FM, Washington confirms that, among some of the directors he’s spoken to recently, he’s very keen in having a mysterious collaboration with PTA come to fruition:
I’m only interested in working with the best. So I got Ryan Coogler. Last night, I had a two-hour conversation with Steve McQueen […] I had a great conversation with Paul Thomas Anderson […] I’m talking about the big guns, people that inspire me.
Back in a 2018, another name that was circulating to star in PTA’s Jazz/Harlem film was Tiffany Haddish. The actress confirmed having had numerous talks with him:
I’ve been talking to [PTA] on the telephone! I mean, he put his phone number out there, so I had to call. I’ve talked to him a few times and we’re probably gonna work together.
Hadish added that the project PTA had in mind for her was about the golden age of L.A.’s “Little Harlem” in the 1940s, when the Hotel Dunbar in South Central Los Angeles was the center of a thriving African-American arts and music scene. Haddish later expounded to IndieWire what the project might look like:
You know how they got ‘Harlem Nights‘? I was like, ‘What if we did “South Central Nights,” like what South Central used to be? How L.A. was this place where you could come and be free, but it was still very segregated, and how that worked in the relationships, the interracial relationships, and all that dynamic?
PTA has stated in the past that one of his favourite authors is Chester Himes. Maybe Hines’ “A Rage in Harlem” could be used as the source martial for the film? The plot of Hines’ novel is also set in Harlem during the 1940s Jazz age.
In the meantime, PTA has already shot his next film, “The Battle of Baktan Cross,” produced by Warner Bros, and is currently in post production on it. The film, which recently set up an August 2025 release date, stars Leonardo DiCaprio.