When will PTAs The Master actually get made?

We're in a different industry right now than four or five years ago. PTA has never made a very successful film. Even Boogie Nights didn't do that great, and partnered with Adam Sandler, he didn't cross over at all. If your company/industry is doing well, then a prestige picture is an somewhat acceptable loss-leader if video/television go up because of Academy awards. On top of that, Anderson has had a tumultuous relationship with some of his studios. I'm sure he'll work again, but we are in the late 60's model Devin has suggested.

kingfan, Paul Thomas Anderson is filming an adaption of the classic...Lee Van Cleef series...The Master, or is it something lesser with the same title?

The one thing about the late 60s though was that by that point all sorts of interesting shit was getting through. Unfortunately I think the current creative clampdown is more indicative that we've still got some time to go before we hit the prophesied, promised return of the 70s. Feels like the late 50s/early 60s artistic mini-renaissance has just ended and we're full in that early/mid 60s desperation mode of bigger and dumber shit.

Sorry, me and my friends always go on rambling debates about this stuff. Young filmmakers in Hollywood await the return of the 70s as eagerly as evangelists do the Rapture.

The problem for Anderson is that that requires going low-fi. The problem then will be the problem we're in right now, which is that only large films seem to unify audiences. There is no center for pop culture at a certain point. With music, and television you've seen numbers driven down partly because of piracy, but also because of a lack of center.

Yeah, I don't think that's ever going to happen. It's a nice dream, but there are too many factors and the marketplace is too fractured for the 70s to return. I think you're going to see something similar to the way the publishing industry works -- the Avatars and the Transformers are your Stephen Kings and your James Pattersons, whereas filmmakers like Rahmin Bahrani and the mumblecore scene are more akin to the literary fiction, and your standard rom coms and thrillers and horror movies -- all PG-13 of course -- are in between. Sure, stuff may occasionally catch on, vaulting a filmmaker (author) to fame and fortune. But it's harder to make a film than it is to write a novel, and it's not enough for a filmmaker to be crazy talented anymore -- you also need to know how to market the shit out of your work, and take advantage of things like social networking.

I also think that you're going to see a lot more young filmmakers look at making films overseas, or with international money, because that's where more chances seem to be taken.

And, honestly, the myth of the Easy Riders, Raging Bulls era is bad for young filmmakers to begin with. It's a nice sentiment, but ultimately, it's a bad habit and idolization that needs to be broken.

Look at me, sounding like Policar all up in this bitch.

kingfan, Thank you for the info.

AV take on this. http://piks.nl/pwG
Could PTA treat this like Vaughn did with Kick-Ass (asking some money etc)?

I find the idea of this fascinating given Tom Cruise has worked with both Hoffman, twice, and Anderson.

And yeah, I'm curious if this would ever be an issue if There Will Be Blood won Best Picture.

Here's a weird thing... on IMDB it says they're using an Arri D-21 camera. After googling, I found out that the Arri D-21 is digital. Who knows how reliable imdb is, but PTA shooting digital? Odd.

It better not be dead. The script for THE MASTER is damned impressive.

Delayed indefinitely.

THIS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED AS NEWS!

The flick that did win was the lowest-grossing best picture winner in Oscar history. Its possible that other years that monetary side of the politics might come into play, but not the year THL was up against TWBB.

As for the 'indefinite delay', why hasn't anyone entertained the notion this has less to do with creative issues and more to do with Scientology? There's rock-solid proof documenting how badly they take people apart that leave their sect and speak ill of it; why would some artsy schlubs in Hollywood be bereft of their wrath?