Paul Thomas Anderson

There are numerous reasons to be excited for Paul Thomas Anderson’s next project — it’s a new Paul Thomas Anderson movie, for one, but it’s also Daniel Day-Lewis’ first film role since 2012’s Lincoln. Legend has it, the meticulous method actor emerges from hibernation once every five years or so to quietly collect an Oscar before retreating to a hidden cottage in some obscure countryside, where he nestles into his sweaters and slumbers until he’s compelled to feed his ego once again.

Back in June we learned that Paul Thomas Anderson was looking to potentially reunite with There Will Be Blood star Daniel Day-Lewis for a new period drama set in the world of fashion. Things have been fairly quiet on that front since then, but today brings incredibly exciting news for fans of Anderson (and Day-Lewis, and cinema in general) as Focus Features has reportedly won an intense bidding war for the film, which is eyeing a 2017 release date.

You’ve probably already dropped whatever it is you were doing to read this news, which is wise because it’s definitely drop-whatever-you’re-doing-worthy (unless you’re holding a baby in your arms, in which case, maybe don’t drop it). Paul Thomas Anderson is in talks to reunite with There Will Be Blood star Daniel Day-Lewis for a new period drama, this time set in the ’50s. And as both director and actor are always doing the unexpected, maybe you shouldn’t be surprised that the new project takes place in the world of New York fashion.

Paul Thomas Anderson has yet to formally announce his next feature directorial project, but while he’s in between gigs, he hooked up with some old friends to shoot a new music video. Behold, the PTA directed music video for Radiohead’s new single “Daydreaming”.

God and Maya Rudolph are the only ones who know when Paul Thomas Anderson will get around to directing another feature, but it’s not all bad. Time Off Paul Thomas Anderson is still plenty of fun, doing neat-o stuff like heading to India with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood for an hourlong documentary with Israeli and Indian musicians, or shooting the bull with Quentin Tarantino about The Hateful Eight

Along with Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson probably rank as the most popularly beloved American filmmakers currently working. They’re among a small faction of directors with enough public clout that their name alone can sell a film to audiences beyond cinephiles. Hugo was a delightful tale about plucky children and the wonder of silent cinema, but America pricked up its ears and took notice because it was also une film de Scorsese. When Quentin Tarantino prepares to unveil a new feature, as he did quite recently with his take-no-prisoners oater The Hateful Eight, it’s more than just a theatrical release, it’s an event. (And in this case, literally, with Tarantino commandeering America’s cineplexes for his quixotic 70mm Roadshow project.)

We’ve heard many stories about the making of Boogie Nights and the tough time Burt Reynolds had (or that everyone else had with Burt Reynolds) on the set of Paul Thomas Anderson’s classic film. And while many believe the actor gave his career-best performance in the porn industry drama, Reynolds doesn’t really have anything positive to say about his time with Anderson or the film — which he’s never watched all the way through.

Way way back in the 2000s, Paul Thomas Anderson devotees were forced to wait two, three, five years for new work from the celebrated director. There was a quiet dignity to it, the countless nights spent agonizing over wispy rumors and hearsay. Nowadays, the guy’s got more material out in the word every week. In the year following his last major feature Inherent Vice, PTA pieced together the digital music doc Junun, directed the lilting video to accompany Joanna Newsom’s single “Sapokanikan,” and now he’s struck again with another music video.

Judging from the newly released trailer, that’s no reason to suppose that Junun will be anything less than excellent, as audiences have come to expect from director Paul Thomas Anderson.

We do not understand the mysteries of the universe. With every breakthrough comes the revelation that we know less than we thought we did. Our plane of existence is beset on all sides by things we cannot comprehend, ideas we can barely grasp, and riddles whose answers lie in another time or dimension.