Paul Thomas Anderson
In the 18 years that Paul Thomas Anderson has been writing feature length films, not one of them has received less than universal critical acclaim. From 1996’s Hard Eight, to 2012’s The Master – each time his words move from page to screen, a deluge of awards nominations and positive reviews follows. Like Linklater, he is known for writing lengthy scenes that seem to build upon themselves organically, while keeping his story entirely on track. He conducts his screenwriting elements in a different way, however, which creates for him a distinctive voice of his own.
If the quality of a script can be judged by the kind of acting talent it attracts, Paul Thomas Anderson clearly writes pure gold. In its execution, his debut screenplay featured a cast comprising of Philip Baker Hall, Gwyneth Paltrow, John C. Reilly, Samuel L. Jackson and a young Philip Seymour Hoffman, in the first of many collaborations. Boogie Nights drew a similarly star-studded roster of talent, followed by Magnolia – the sweeping epic of a film that solidified Anderson’s reputation as a writer of brilliant material.
While Anderson tends to write for the same actors repeatedly, he switches between genres with ease. Though a recurring plot point seems to be the complexities of human relationships – whether within families, romance, business or religion – each script is infused with an otherworldliness, magnified by a carefully constructed setting, and enigmatic, intriguing characters. As an audience, we want to find out who these people are, what makes them tick, and why they are doing the things they are doing. This storytelling strategy affords Anderson the room to expand the tale with a powerful combination of dialogue and silence from these characters, which is immediately engaging.
With Inherent Vice on the way – a 1970s detective movie – it seems that Paul Thomas Anderson has many more tales up his sleeve.