Paul Thomas Anderson on the director who showed his dream was “within reach”
Having grown up in Studio City, Los Angeles and being the son of actor Ernie Anderson, known for his work on ABC, it was always likely that Paul Thomas Anderson would get involved in the film industry in one way or another. However, even Anderson is likely surprised that he has become one of the most acclaimed directors in the business, fully deserving of his reputation.
Anderson had been interested in making films from an early age and made his first on a Betamax video camera when he was just eight years old. At high school, he eventually made his first proper film, a 30-minute mockumentary about a pornstar by the name of Dirk Diggler, who was naturally, the inspiration for his 1997 film Boogie Nights.
After studying at Santa Monica, Emerson and New York University, Anderson began working as a production assistant whilst setting about making a short film that would get him an invite to the Sundance Feature Film Programme. This led to a deal in which Anderson was able to make his first feature, 1996’s Hard Eight.
The Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, and The Master director always dreamed of being an acclaimed director, but there was one fellow filmmaker who had shown Anderson that his dream really was possible. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Anderson once said of Jonathan Demme, “How long have you got? He was the first filmmaker who made me feel it was within reach.”
“What I mean by that is: He didn’t, he didn’t over shazam it, but he put some spit on it too,” Anderson added. “So it’s cinematic, but it’s grounded as well.” Demme had a stunning career, winning an Academy Award and a Directors Guild of America Award and delivering some excellent movies over the course of more than three decades in the industry.
After working under Roger Corman and helming early works like Melvin and Howard and Married to the Mob, Demme hit the heights with his 1991 psychological horror The Silence of the Lambs, which saw him win ‘Best Director’. In the following years, Demme earned further acclaim for his efforts on Philadelphia, Beloved and The Manchurian Candidate.
It was an earlier film of Demme’s that left a big impression on Anderson, though, as according to the Phantom Thread director, 1986’s Something Wild served as a “gigantic turning point” when he first saw it. “How loose you could be with the rulebook,” he said. “You know, having people look into the camera, having three different songs play at one time, simply ending your film on Sister Carol looking into the lens and nodding and wagging her finger. I mean, that’s fucking amazing to me.”
Something Wild is Demme’s comedy thriller starring Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels and Ray Liotta, and though it seems to be Anderson’s favourite of the directors, his wider work is clearly important to him. “One other thing that I really like about his work is everybody had a story in the frame,” Anderson added. “There was no bullshit background; no one was an accident. He cared about everybody.”
Jonathan Demme was a true legend of filmmaking and he had a deep influence on the next generation of filmmakers, most certainly one of the most acclaimed of the 21st century, Paul Thomas Anderson.
