The actors Paul Thomas Anderson called “better than any special effect”
Although he’s clearly a man of innumerable talents, given his status as one of the finest and most consistently acclaimed auteurs of his era, one of the many things Paul Thomas Anderson does better on a more regular basis than the majority of his contemporaries is drawing magnificent performances from his actors.
He may not yet have an Academy Award of his own despite racking up 11 nominations across four different categories, but can any of his features really be called top-tier Anderson if at least one member of the ensemble doesn’t find themselves shortlisted for an Oscar? Looking at the evidence, perhaps not.
Boogie Nights‘ Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore, Magnolia‘s Tom Cruise, The Master‘s Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Phantom Thread‘s Daniel Day-Lewis and Lesley Manville were all nominated, and Day-Lewis won for There Will Be Blood. This leaves his debut Hard Eight, Punch-Drunk Love, Inherent Vice, and Licorice Pizza as the only PTA films that didn’t get acting nods.
Of those four, only two of them didn’t get any Oscar nominations at all, and of the ones that didn’t, Adam Sandler was still a Golden Globe contender for ‘Best Actor – Musical or Comedy’. Clearly, the filmmaker knows how to get the very best out of his performers, so it makes complete sense that he’d view them as being special effects that enhance his work.
He’s hardly the type of person who’ll be recruited for a blockbuster epic that requires a crew of hundreds painstakingly dedicating months to crafting pixelated action sequences. That’s perfectly fine because, for Anderson, having incredible actors operating at the top of their game is infinitely superior in his eyes.
“The best special effect you can have is a great actor,” Anderson said during a discussion with Quentin Tarantino on The Hateful Eight. “Samuel L. Jackson is a better special effect than any fucking special effect. Jennifer Jason Leigh beats a spaceship any day. She’s a special effect of her own.”
He may not have gotten around to working with Leigh yet, but he does have a history with Jackson, even if it was a long time ago. The Tarantino regular played Jimmy in Anderson’s Hard Eight almost 30 years ago, but they haven’t reunited in a meaningful capacity since. That obviously doesn’t disqualify his statement when any production tends to benefit from having either of that aforementioned pair aboard.
Approaching Anderson to see if he’d even entertain the idea of taking the reins on a CGI-fuelled spectacular is only going to end one way. However, based on his glowing assessment of the superiorities thespians continue to hold over expansive eye candy, it’s evident which form of cinema he sees as being worthier.
