Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks

Book excerpt: “A master class of the masterworks of Paul Thomas Anderson” (Variety Magazine), Adam Nayman’s full-color coffee-table gift book explores the creative journey of the multiple Academy Award–nominated writer and director. Foreword by the Safdie Brothers “Full of lavish photographs from his best-loved films.” ―A. Frame Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks is a fact-filled treasure-trove for movie fans; it explores Anderson’s career, including the critically acclaimed, award-winning movies: Hard Eight (1996) Boogie Nights (1997) Magnolia (1999) Punch Drunk Love (2002) There Will Be Blood (2007) The Master (2012) Inherent Vice (2014) Phantom Thread (2017) Anderson has been described as “one of American film’s modern masters” and “the foremost filmmaking talent of his generation.” His films have received more than 25 Academy Award nominations, and he has worked closely with many of the most accomplished actors of our time, including Lesley Ann Manville, Julianne Moore, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Film critics and fans are constantly looking forward to what he might create next and discuss the meaning and technical aspects of his movies and their most famous scenes. Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights, Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will be Blood, and Joaquin Phoenix in The Master are not just memorable movie performances, they are the stuff of Hollywood legend. It also covers his music videos for Radiohead and his early short films. All are examined and illustrated in detail. Anderson’s influences; his style; and the recurring themes of alienation, reinvention, ambition, and destiny that course through his movies are analyzed and supplemented by firsthand interviews with his closest collaborators—and illuminated by film stills, archival photos, original illustrations, and an appropriately psychedelic design aesthetic. Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks is a tribute to the dreamers, drifters, and evil dentists who populate his world.