Michael Bauman is Cinematographer on Paul Thomas Anderson’s New Film

It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote about Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film, which is currently shooting in California. I have a brief update.

Some of us were wondering who PTA might have hired as cinematographer for this still-untitled film. Well, we just had it confirmed, via a production grid, that Michael Bauman is the DP on this one — if you remember, he also shot “Licorice Pizza.”

Before being promoted as DP on “Licorice Pizza,” and this new project, Bauman was originally a chief lighting technician on all of PTA’s films since 2012’s “The Master,” his other notable credits are as a gaffer on major films such as “Vice,” “Munich” “Ray” “Training Day” and “Iron Man.”

In 2012, Mihai Mălaimare Jr. took over photography duties for "The Master.” PTA was his own DP on 2017’s “Phantom Thread” and then, as mentioned, Bauman shot 2021’s “Licorice Pizza.” 

One wishes that a PTA reunion with Robert Elswit can one day occur — their partnership resulted in a historic run of six films, including "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "Punch-Drunk Love," and "There Will Be Blood”. However, they seem to have had a falling out of some sorts, at least, according to Elswit.

When asked in 2019 whether he could see them collaborating again, Elswit didn’t sound too optimistic. “I don’t know. Probably not. You know, it depends on how he feels. I would do it again…I didn’t enjoy myself on ‘Inherent Vice’…It was a combination of me and Paul just not getting along, and I can be as immature as him.”

Elswit went on to describe their working relationship as that of “a bad married couple. Unpleasant.”

In a 2020 interview, Elswit also criticized Phantom Thread's cinematography, pointing out Anderson’s use of “haze” and smoke — which he hinted as a very common “amateur” technique. Although Elswit did admit to liking the film, he additionally stated that some of the techniques PTA used on “Phantom Thread” intentionally degraded the image of the film: “if I’d shot that movie I would not be happy with it ending up looking like it looked.”