Check out the most anticipated movies and shows premiering during the summer season, from [i]Ballerina[/i] to [i]Thunderbolts*[/i].

IMDb Summer Watch Guide

Check out the most anticipated movies and shows premiering during the summer season, from <em>Ballerina</em> to <em>Thunderbolts*</em>.

These actors totally transform for their roles. See them in some of their most memorable moments.

The Greatest Character Actors of All Time

IMDb celebrates the cinematic contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders with a list of some iconic films, new classics, and hidden gems to add to your Watchlist.

IMDb's Picks For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Paul Thomas Anderson in Inherent Vice (2014)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice (2014)

Paul Thomas Anderson in Charlie Rose (1991)

Paul Thomas Anderson, Adam Sandler, and Elmo Weber

Paul Thomas Anderson, Cooper Hoffman, and Alana Haim in Licorice Pizza (2021)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Heather Graham in Boogie Nights (1997)

Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson in There Will Be Blood (2007)

Paul Thomas Anderson in There Will Be Blood (2007)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Martin Short in Inherent Vice (2014)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Joaquin Phoenix in The Master (2012)

Heather Graham and director Paul Thomas Anderson on the set of "Boogie Nights."

Paul Thomas Anderson and Alana Haim at an event for Licorice Pizza (2021)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Maya Rudolph at an event for The Oscars (2018)

Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson at an event for Phantom Thread (2017)

Steven Spielberg, Willem Dafoe, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Paul Thomas Anderson, Mary J. Blige, Allison Janney, Diane Warren, Alexandre Desplat, Mark Bridges, Bruno Delbonnel, Richard Edlund, Dennis Gassner, Luca Guadagnino, Thomas Lennon, Laurie Metcalf, Christopher Nolan, Julian Slater, Aaron Sorkin, Octavia Spencer, Guillermo del Toro, Hoyte Van Hoytema, Shane Vieau, Common, Sally Hawkins, Kobe Bryant, Arjen Tuiten, Hugh Welchman, Jordan Peele, Saoirse Ronan, Ivan Mactaggart, Theo Green, Greta Gerwig, Dee Rees, Jakob Schuh, Daniel Kaluuya, JR, Megan Ellison, Margot Robbie, Timothée Chalamet, Ru Kuwahata, Kumail Nanjiani, Jan Lachauer, Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Max Porter, Emily V. Gordon, Feras Fayyad, and Curren Sheldon at an event for The Oscars (2018)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Timothée Chalamet

Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Vicky Krieps at an event for Phantom Thread (2017)

Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Thomas Anderson, Lesley Manville, and Vicky Krieps at an event for Phantom Thread (2017)

Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Paul Thomas Anderson, Philip Baker Hall, Melora Walters, and April Grace at an event for Magnolia (1999)

Paul Thomas Anderson, Bennett Miller, and Maya Rudolph at an event for The Oscars (2015)

Julianne Moore and Paul Thomas Anderson at an event for 30th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards (2015)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Joaquin Phoenix at an event for 30th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards (2015)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Cassandra Kulukundis at an event for 30th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards (2015)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Jacqueline Lyanga at an event for Inherent Vice (2014)

Paul Thomas Anderson at an event for Inherent Vice (2014)

Paul Thomas Anderson, Amy Adams, and JoAnne Sellar at an event for The Master (2012)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Amy Adams at an event for The Master (2012)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Cameron Bailey at an event for The Master (2012)

Paul Thomas Anderson and Joaquin Phoenix at an event for The Master (2012)

Paul Thomas Anderson, Harvey Weinstein, and Madisen Beaty at an event for The Master (2012)

Paul Thomas Anderson at an event for The Master (2012)

Paul Thomas Anderson, Joaquin Phoenix, and Harvey Weinstein at an event for The Master (2012)

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Joaquin Phoenix, Daniel Lupi, and JoAnne Sellar at an event for The Master (2012)

Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making 8 mm films, Anderson cut his teeth shooting films on video and editing them from V.C.R. to V.C.R.

Part of Anderson's artistic D.N.A. comes from his father, who hosted a late night horror show in Cleveland. His father knew a number of oddball celebrities such as Robert Ridgely, an actor who often appeared in Mel Brooks' films and would later play "The Colonel" in Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). Anderson was also very much shaped by growing up in "The Valley", specifically the suburban San Fernando Valley of greater Los Angeles. The Valley may have been immortalized in the 1980s for its mall-hopping "Valley Girls", but for Anderson it was a slightly seedy part of suburban America. You were close to Hollywood, yet you weren't there. Would-bes and burn-outs populated the area. Anderson's experiences growing up in "The Valley" have no doubt shaped his artistic self, especially since three of his four theatrical features are set in the Valley.

Anderson got into film-making at a young age. His most significant amateur film was The Dirk Diggler Story (1988), a sort of mock-documentary a la This Is Spinal Tap (1984), about a once-great pornography star named Dirk Diggler. After enrolling in N.Y.U.'s film program for two days, Anderson got his tuition back and made his own short film, Cigarettes & Coffee (1993). He also worked as a production assistant on numerous commercials and music videos before he got the chance to make his first feature, something he liked to call Sydney, but would later become known to the public as Hard Eight (1996). The film was developed and financed through The Sundance Lab, not unlike Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992). Anderson cast three actors whom he would continue working with in the future: Altman veteran Philip Baker Hall, the husky and lovable John C. Reilly and, in a small part, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who so far has been featured in all four of Anderson's films. The film deals with a guardian angel type (played by Hall) who takes down-on-his-luck Reilly under his wing. The deliberately paced film featured a number of Anderson trademarks: wonderful use of source light, long takes and top-notch acting. Yet the film was reedited (and retitled) by Rysher Entertainment against Anderson's wishes. It was admired by critics, but didn't catch on at the box office. Still, it was enough for Anderson to eventually get his next movie financed. "Boogie Nights" was, in a sense, a remake of "The Dirk Diggler Story", but Anderson threw away the satirical approach and instead painted a broad canvas about a makeshift family of pornographers. The film was often joyous in its look at the 1970s and the days when pornography was still shot on film, still shown in theatres, and its actors could at least delude themselves into believing that they were movie stars. Yet "Boogie Nights" did not flinch at the dark side, showing a murder and suicide, literally in one (almost) uninterrupted shot, and also showing the lives of these people deteriorate, while also showing how their lives recovered.

Anderson not only worked with Hall, Reilly and Hoffman again, he also worked with Julianne Moore, Melora Walters, William H. Macy and Luis Guzmán. Collectively, Anderson had something that was rare in U.S. cinema: a stock company of top-notch actors. Aside from the above mentioned, Anderson also drew terrific performances from Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, two actors whose careers were not exactly going full-blast at the time of "Boogie Nights", but who found themselves to be that much more employable afterwards.

The success of "Boogie Nights" gave Anderson the chance to really go for broke in Magnolia (1999), a massive mosaic that could dwarf Altman's Nashville (1975) in its number of characters.

Anderson was awarded a "Best Director" award at Cannes for Punch-Drunk Love (2002).

Photos

Paul Thomas Anderson

More from this person

More to explore

Recently viewed