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“Inherent Vice” Production Notes
An adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s
funniest novel, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson |
Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter
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Written by: Warner Brothers press |
Date:
21.06.2015 |
Inherent Vice: A hidden defect in a good or
property which causes or contributes to its deterioration, damage, or
wastage. These defects of an inherent nature make the item an unacceptable
risk to a carrier or insurer. Examples of inherent vice include spontaneous
combustion, rust, etc.
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Synopsis
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Poster
for the film "Inherent Vice". Click the image to see enlargement
“Inherent Vice,” an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s seventh and funniest
novel, is the seventh film written and directed by Paul Thomas
Anderson—and the very first film adaptation ever of Pynchon’s
legendarily inventive, culturally kaleidoscopic work. A surf noir, the
story dives headlong into the smoky haze and neon afterglow of the
American counterculture via a psychedelic spin on the classic detective
yarn.
When private eye Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere
shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer
boyfriend whom she just happens to be in love with, and a plot by his
wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a
loony bin…well, easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the
psychedelic `60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that
“love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip”
or “groovy,” that’s being way too overused—except this one usually leads
to trouble. With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers,
dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD detectives, a tenor sax
player working undercover, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden
Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists...it’s part
California noir, part hallucinogenic romp, and an all-out cinematic
homage to a Pynchonian world of far-out characters, dead-on insights and
deep yearning.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with IAC Films, a JoAnne
Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company production, “Inherent Vice.” The film
stars Oscar nominees Joaquin Phoenix ("The Master", “Walk the Line”),
Josh Brolin (“Milk”) and Owen Wilson (writer, “The Royal Tenenbaums”);
Katherine Waterston (“Michael Clayton,” “Boardwalk Empire”); Oscar
winners Reese Witherspoon (“Walk the Line”) and Benicio Del Toro
(“Traffic”); Martin Short (“Frankenweenie”); Jena Malone (“The Hunger
Games” series); and musician Joanna Newsom. Five-time Oscar nominee Paul
Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood,” “Magnolia,” “Boogie Nights”)
wrote and directed, based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon. Anderson also
produced the film, together with Oscar nominees JoAnne Sellar and Daniel
Lupi (“There Will Be Blood”). Scott Rudin and Adam Somner served as
executive producers.
Anderson’s behind-the-scenes creative team included Oscar-winning
director of photography Robert Elswit (“There Will Be Blood”),
production designer David Crank (“The Master”), Oscar-nominated editor
Leslie Jones (“The Thin Red Line”), and Oscar-winning costume designer
Mark Bridges (“The Artist”). The music is by Radiohead’s Jonny
Greenwood.
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More in 70mm reading:
"Inherent Vice" is
released in 70mm
"Inherent Vice" Red
Carpet 70mm Premiere in Paris
P T Anderson's "The
Master" in System 65
11. Todd-AO 70mm-Festival 2015
Internet link:
inherentvicemovie.net
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
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A Note On The Times
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Kinoton
non-rewind system with "Inherent Vice" 70mm print.
The comedy-tinged mysteries investigated by “gum-sandal” California
detective Doc Sportello in Inherent Vice take him into the realm of the
nefarious Golden Fang—which is both a schooner headed for San Pedro and
a boundless, interconnected organization which has its teeth in the
international heroin trade, the rehab business and apparently dentistry,
among other things. But equally so, they also plunge him into the dark
gap between the 1960s and `70s, between an idealistic vision of America
and the modern consumer sprawl with which we are all so familiar.
As Doc chases femme fatales through the intertwining questions of what
happened to corrupt land developer Mickey Wolfmann, what happened to
surf-rock saxophonist Coy Harlingen, and how his former client Crocker
Fenway is connected to the Golden Fang, he ultimately solves them all.
But at the core of his being, he is perhaps not so much trying to figure
out “whodunnit?” as “what the hell happened?”
“There’s a sadness underneath Doc’s investigations,” says Paul Thomas
Anderson, “a feeling that the promise that people felt in those times
was being ripped off. And that’s been a persistent theme of Pynchon’s
work since the beginning. As I made the film, I was trying to be a
surrogate for Pynchon’s concern for the American fate.”
The epigraph of Pynchon’s novel was drawn from a famed splash of radical
graffiti scrawled during the May 1968 protests in Paris: “Sous les
pavés, la plage!” (“Under the pavement, the beach!”) Indeed, Doc
Sportello’s mythical beach home of Gordita Beach, with all its longing
and joys, seems to be increasingly colliding with forces as unyielding
as concrete.
That was a reality in 1970, as many watched the back-to-nature
California dream gradually being overtaken by land developers. At the
same time, the fun-loving, homegrown dope scene was giving way to
bureaucratic heroin cartels with global reach; the mental institutions
were being emptied in favor of for-profit “recovery” centers; and an era
of spirited political activism was being routed out by covert networks
of spying, infiltration and dirty tricks. Even on television, cop shows
were out-gunning comedies. A generation watched in dismay as peace, love
and understanding squirmed beneath the weight of greed, surveillance and
darkness.
Pynchon refers to the `60s as “this little parentheses of light” and the
film, like Doc himself, is entranced by that light, but the story also
takes place just beyond the closing bracket of those parentheses, in a
time of upheaval and dislocation.
• In 1967, Ronald Reagan, former SAG president and anti-Commie crusader,
began an eight-year reign as California’s governor. That same year, the
Lanterman-Petris-Short Act made institutionalization of the mentally ill
vastly more difficult, doubling the number of mentally ill in the
justice system within a year.
• In 1968, Richard Nixon was elected in the wake of the assassination of
Robert F. Kennedy and a season of police-protestor confrontations,
presaging the Watergate era of wiretaps and secret-keeping.
• In 1969, Charles Manson’s cultists committed the gruesome murders of
actress Sharon Tate and six others in a brutal killing spree north of
Beverly Hills.
• Also in 1969, a free rock concert given at California’s Altamont
Speedway resulted in the death of a teenager beaten by Hells Angels
hired to provide security.
• In April 1970, President Nixon sends U.S. troops to Cambodia. A civil
war began in Cambodia between Communist and non-Communist forces.
• In May 1970, unarmed students protesting U.S. involvement in Cambodia
were shot by police at Kent State University, with four dead and nine
wounded.
• In 1972, Alfred W. McCoy published The Politics of Heroin in Southeast
Asia, in which he presented evidence of CIA complicity in the Southeast
Asian opium and heroin trade, controlling at least 70 percent of the
worldwide market.
Pynchon writes in the novel of Doc seeing signs of this change
everywhere he goes in Los Angeles. His paranoia might be heightened by
his dope-smoking, but he is also detecting omens. He asks: “Was it
possible, that at every gathering—concert, peace rally, love-in, be-in,
and freak-in, here, up north, back east, wherever—those dark crews had
been busy all along, reclaiming the music, the resistance to power, the
sexual desire from epic to everyday, all they could sweep up, for the
ancient forces of greed and fear?”
Amid all the jokes and sexy lightness of “Inherent Vice,” Anderson too
raises that question of how those ancient forces—so palpable at the
brink of the `70s—have become the commonplace signposts of our own
times. Through Doc’s quest to right the wrongs in his immediate vicinity
he also poses a very timely question: whether we still believe, decades
later, in at least the attempt at transcendence?
“Do we still have that sense of a lost American promise that can be
reclaimed?” Anderson wonders. “I hope so.”
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On Gordita Beach
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Serena
Scott Thomas in the film
"Inherent Vice" by Paul Thomas Anderson. Image by Warner Brothers
Since the 1960s, Thomas Pynchon has been celebrated as the one resonant
American literary voice that tapped directly into the multifaceted,
recombined chaos of modern life. Starting with his classic novels V.,
The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity’s Rainbow, he plunged readers into
vastly intricate parallel universes that mirrored the beauty,
perversity, technological audacity, political futility, comic absurdity
and unyielding complexity of the post World War II era.
His work refused summary. It was historical and scientific…yet
dream-like and lined with hidden meanings. It was dead serious…yet it
unspooled in madcap spirals of comedy. The crime writer Ian Rankin once
succinctly called Pynchon a purveyor of literature “as an extended code
or grail quest. Moreover, he was like a drug: as you worked out one
layer of meaning, you quickly wanted to move to the next.”
Indeed, Pynchon’s work was so wild, so reputedly untamable, that a deep
irony emerged: here was a novelist who profusely quoted from movie
history throughout his writing, who was profoundly influenced by the
temporal flow of cinema, yet no movie had ever been made from his work.
It even became, perhaps, another layer in Pynchon’s mystique.
Like all of Pynchon’s work, Inherent Vice forged its own world. But this
one was a sui generis Los Angeles possessed of the spirit of sex, drugs
and rock and roll. He honed in on the essence of 1970 as a kind of
tipping point, that moment when the chilled, misfit tribes of the
coast—hippies, freaks, surfers, bikers, dopers, mystics,
rockers—suddenly found themselves in collision with the global cartels,
sprawling consumerism, faux spirituality, bulldozed neighborhoods and
political and personal paranoia that would soon become part of the
everyday American fabric.
In the midst of this world, Pynchon placed beach-dwelling, pot-smoking
L.A. private eye Doc Sportello, who finds himself making the last stand
of a certain dazed breed of American dreamer tilting at the forces of
greed, fear and disintegration just before the Age of Aquarius became
myth.
Pynchon playfully merged the cultures of gumshoe and hippie, with Doc
Sportello delivering the shamus’s snappy dialogue through a weed-induced
mellow, then merged that with his long-lived concerns with the invisible
forces within American society and the idea of American destiny.
Most of all, he lit up the book with so many zingy lines, characters,
jokes and music that Rolling Stone called it a “majestic summary of
everything that makes [Pynchon] a uniquely huge
American voice. It has the moral fury that’s fueled his work from the
start—his ferociously batshit compassion for America and the lost tribes
who wander through it.”
But could Pynchon’s verbal electricity and polychromatic way of seeing
the world finally be translated for the first time to the screen?
Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, who has carved out his own tradition of
vividly cinematic stories of dreamers and seekers, decided to take a
crack.
He began writing while he was still at work on
"The Master", and it was
a process. Initially, he adapted the entire novel sentence-by-sentence
so that he could work with the whole slew of characters, plot twists and
lines of dialogue in their entirety.
At the same time, he was thinking about how to visually capture the more
purely visceral experience of taking in a Pynchon novel. “My best
experiences reading his books have been when I allow them to wash over
me—when you don't expect anything, don't know anything…just surrender
and ride along the waves he creates,” comments Anderson. “You can't
summarize it and sometimes it's just out of reach to define what it is
but you feel it.”
Most of all, Anderson wanted to do justice not only to the full
labyrinth of crime and corruption that Doc Sportello falls into but to
evoke the roots of Pynchon’s fascination with the `60s. “Pynchon’s plot
mechanics are complicated, sure, but beneath it all is something
simple,” he concludes. “It's looking at the past and hoping things can
get better tomorrow. What could be simpler than that? Isn't it what we
all want?”
“The one idea I came up with was to utilize a supporting character,
Sortilège, and employ her as the narrator,” explains Anderson. “She
helps us follow the story, and we can squeeze in some jokes and some
nice Pynchon passages through this device, hopefully, without cheating
too much.”
Like the book, the filmmaking would delve into the state of paranoia
itself—whether drug-induced or life-induced—in all its mix of comedy,
insight and danger. Says Anderson of Pynchon’s fascination with paranoia
on both an individual and societal level, “Pynchon himself said it best
in Gravity’s Rainbow, ‘Paranoids are not paranoid because they’re
paranoid but because they keep putting themselves, fucking idiots, into
paranoid situations.’”
He adds, “Paranoia is also very, very fun to film—people and noises and
creeping around corners—it’s all very cinematic. And Joaquin does
paranoid very well.”
Anderson first began talking with Joaquin Phoenix about taking the role
of Doc Sportello after shooting “The Master.”
“Joaquin and I tried to dig into the book as deeply as we could;
everything, all the time, came back to the book,” says Anderson. “It
would make us laugh and constantly kept delivering new material. It’s so
dense that there was no chance you could retain it all, but we tried.”
Sporting fluffy muttonchops and various shaggy stages of a ‘fro, Phoenix
was modeled to some degree after a 1970s-era Neil Young. It’s a look
contrasted by the knife-edged crew-cut of his chief law enforcement
rival: the badass, civil rights-violating LAPD officer and sensitive
“Adam-12” extra Bigfoot Bjornsen, a role explored by Josh Brolin in both
its comedic and human aspects.
“Bigfoot’s an asshole, but Josh figured a way to make it funny and a
little sad,” says Anderson. “There’s a nice line from the book that
describes Bigfoot as ‘possessed with melancholy.’ But he’s also a
dickhead.”
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Martin
Short (left) and director Paul Thomas Anderson in the film "Inherent Vice".
Image by Warner Brothers
The instigator of Doc’s quest—his sensuous ex-flame Shasta, who arrives
back in his life out of the blue, “looking just like she swore she’d
never look”—is portrayed by Katherine Waterston in her first major
screen role. “She’s gorgeous and talented, what more could you hope
for?” says Anderson of Waterston. “It was also nice to work with someone
who’s a new face to audiences, who hasn’t got a lot of screen mileage,
which helps keep her mysterious.”
As Doc investigates Shasta’s disappearance, he wanders through a
prismatic maze of characters from backgrounds high and low. They include
Martin Short as the nefarious Dr. Blatnoyd, Owen Wilson as regretful
undercover snitch Coy Harlingen, Jena Malone as reformed doper Hope
Harlingen, Benicio Del Toro as maritime lawyer Sauncho Smilax, Reese
Witherspoon as alluringly straight Deputy D.A. Penny Kimball, Eric
Roberts as real estate developer Mickey Wolfmann, Michael Kenneth
Williams as ex-con activist Tariq Khalil, Martin Donovan as lawyer
Crocker Fenway, Sasha Pieterse as troublesome Japonica Fenway, Hong Chau
as Chick Planet’s Jade, Jordan Christian Hearn as Doc’s burnout cohort
Denis, and Jeannie Berlin as Doc’s Aunt Reet.
“It was a dream scenario,” comments Anderson. “Great parts, big and
small. Thankfully, schedules worked out and this dream team of players
was available. All of them, from Jena to Benicio, are people I’ve been
so anxious to work with over the years, and here was a chance. Even more
thrilling was finding new young actors like Hong Chau or Jordan
Christian Hearn, or working with greats like Jeannie Berlin, Eric
Roberts and Martin Short.”
Then there is Gordita Beach itself, a mythological coastal city Pynchon
first wrote about in his 1990 novel Vineland, which might or might not
be modeled after that once freewheeling, if petrochemical-laden, surf
town that is now upscale Manhattan Beach. The chance to create Pynchon’s
alternate seaside universe was exhilarating.
“I’m from California, I’m from Los Angeles, I was born in 1970, so there
was a straight flush of reasons to be interested in this era,” says
Anderson. “And then you add to that good music, cars and girls…”
But this is also a different view of Los Angeles than seen in Anderson’s
previous films— which have traversed the map from the late-`70s adult
film world of “Boogie Nights,” to a contemporary realm of crises and
miracles in “Magnolia,” to the unexpected site of amour fou in
“Punch-Drunk Love,” to the emerging landscape of 20th century ambition
in “There Will Be Blood.”
Anderson says among his key influences for the film’s look was an
underground comic strip, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, created in
1968 by artist Gilbert Shelton, which featured the misadventures of the
three notoriously ungainful, dope-seeking Freak Brothers in line
drawings that had a playful, trippy warmth.
He and his fellow filmmaking team, which includes Oscar-winning
cinematographer Robert Elswit, production designer David Crank and
costume designer Mark Bridges, then searched for the last vestiges of
authentic surf culture and psychedelia in Southern California. “It’s
getting harder and harder to find the past,” notes Anderson, “much
harder than it was in 1997 when we made ‘Boogie Nights.’”
An equally vital factor in powering the time machine that is “Inherent
Vice” is the music, which features both an original score by Jonny
Greenwood in his third collaboration with Anderson, following “There
Will Be Blood” and “The Master,” and a soundtrack that sweeps through
lesser-heard sounds of the 1970s, from the cult experimental band Can to
Minnie Riperton to Neil Young himself.
“There are too many great tunes to choose from for this era,” says
Anderson. “I just had to audition stuff to see what fit. There are so
many musical references in the book—we didn’t have enough film to
support all of that. But we did use the classic ‘Here Comes the Ho-Dads’
[by The Marketts]. Talk about surf sax solos! Coy Harlingen would be
proud.”
Though redolent with rock ‘n’ roll nostalgia, “Inherent Vice” does not
stay entirely parked in time. It cannot, for the characters are also
trying to escape time, to escape time’s unavoidable, inherent vices. And
they do so through the very same sex, drugs and music that defined the
era.
Doc’s investigation leads down all the outrageous and impenetrable
detours of the era, from Ouija Boards to Nixon rallies, from minor
revelations to a shot at redemption, only to deposit him back on Gordita
Beach, in the thick of the fog, on the edge of the blue, watching the
“sea of time, the sea of memory and forgetfulness.”
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Who’s Who: The Characters
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Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix)
Profile: Gordita Beach’s hippie P.I., whose near-constant altered state
of consciousness either enhances his detecting abilities or complicates
everything.
Phoenix on Inherent Vice: The whole film is designed to lure you into
this journey and it’s kind of an experience unto itself. It was that way
shooting it, too. Paul imperceptibly steers you in a way that you don’t
even realize you’re being brought into another time and space. You’re
just suddenly there.
On working with Anderson: It’s a dream experience. It’s a completely
immersive thing, and everyone in the cast and crew is there to immerse
themselves in it. It’s sort of a mystery to me how he even does it,
because his sets don’t really feel like sets. You don’t even feel like
you’re making a movie, you just feel like you’re inside this world he’s
created. It’s so easy to be inspired when you work with someone like
that.
On letting the role happen: I don’t try to tightly control a performance
the way I used to do and, really, there’s no way to come at someone like
Doc with rigid ideas, with any kind of fixed certainty. When you work
with someone like Paul, who isn’t afraid of the unpredictable, who is
open to discoveries, you have that kind of room. And that’s when you
find something that feels like it’s in a state of real flux, that feels
like it’s alive. That’s always what I’m after.
Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston)
Profile: Doc’s ex-old lady, a formerly free-spirited beach girl who
suddenly reappears, luring him into a case that keeps expanding
exponentially.
Waterston on Shasta: Shasta returns to Gordita Beach after having left
to pursue the Hollywood dream. The pursuit doesn’t go as she expected it
would; instead of finding the success she had hoped for, she finds
herself involved in a situation that could shape up to be much more
nightmarish than dreamy. So she comes back to Doc, seeking his help.
And, like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, she lures him down a
rabbit hole and, subsequently, into all sorts of bizarre, absurd and
dangerous situations.
On Shasta’s encounters with crime: I think Shasta was quite devastated
by Hollywood, by the Manson murders, by the end of a decade that
promised something it didn't deliver. I really connected with her, with
her sorrow. It wasn’t difficult for me to understand how she got in over
her head with Mickey Wolfmann—disappointment and fear are insidious,
powerful emotions, they can disorient you and do a real number on your
judgment.
On Doc’s feelings for Shasta: I suppose that’s a question for Doc! But I
definitely prefer to believe he loves her. It’s only my opinion, I could
be right or wrong, but I don’t think Pynchon would have given the
character a name as gorgeous, romantic and musical as Shasta Fay
Hepworth if he wanted us to think she was just some dime-a-dozen
ex-girlfriend. When I first read the script and the novel, Doc’s love
for Shasta felt like an omnipresent fact. Regardless of whatever he was
saying or doing, his concern for her, it seemed to me, was always there,
hanging in the air. I feel it when I watch the movie, I see it in
Joaquin’s brilliant performance.
On the experience of the film: Paul and Joaquin ruined my life by giving
me such a wonderful, dream-come-true experience! It was like being given
a first class ticket after years in that middle seat that doesn’t
recline, in the very last row of the plane, next to the bathroom. I
didn’t want it to end. I remember I was nostalgic about it before it was
even over! I just plain love the way they both work: fearlessly,
collaboratively and with dogged determination. I expected to be
intimidated by Joaquin and Paul because they’re both freaky super
geniuses, but because they are both so unassuming and generous, the
panic never set in. I was blown away by how included and welcome they
made me feel.
Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts)
Profile: Shasta’s missing boyfriend, a billionaire land-developer who
has been turning L.A.’s traditional neighborhoods into luxury real
estate…until he drops off the map.
Pynchon describes Mickey: “Mickey could have taught all you swingin’
beach bums a thing or two. He was just so powerful. Sometimes he could
make you feel almost invisible. Fast, brutal, not what you’d call a
considerate lover, an animal, actually, but Sloane adored that about
him, and Luz—you could tell, we all did. It’s so nice to be made to feel
invisible that way sometimes...”
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Lt. Det. Christian F. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen
(Josh Brolin)
Profile: Frozen banana-chomping LAPD detective, self-described
“renaissance cop” and part-time actor who has a love-hate relationship
with Doc.
Brolin on Bigfoot: There are so many things going on with Bigfoot—and I
like when characters are in major conflict with themselves. I saw him as
this guy who is kind of stuck in a gray flannel `50s world, a guy who
would have wanted to be a “Right Stuff” kind of guy if things had worked
that way. But there are all these dichotomous things going on with him.
When you see him with his wife, he’s just getting screamed at like a
child. So he presents himself one way, but what’s really going on is
something else. He also says he hates hippies but he mostly hangs around
hippies—and his greatest partner is a hippie.
On Bigfoot and Doc: It’s truly a love-hate thing with these two.
Obviously they’re using each other to get what they each want, but
there’s also more going on I think. I mean Bigfoot gets off on talking
the way he can only talk with Doc. And I suspect Doc gets off on it,
too.
On Bigfoot’s hair: Literally 15 minutes before my first scene we decided
on the flat top. There were a couple of other ideas, but once we tried
it, that became the way to go.
On the rapport with Joaquin and Benicio: There's a great dynamic that
happens once in a while with actors, when you don't know what they're
going to bring, and that happened here. It was fluid in a Pynchon kind
of sense. Maybe it was more like Jell-O. I also think Joaquin is one of
the greatest actors we have, so to be able to work with somebody like
that and just take that roller coaster is great.
On the story: I see it as a kind of labyrinth where you understand more
and more as you go along. You can watch it many times and get something
new each time. Films like this aren’t made very often anymore, so when
you finish a film like this, you just feel honored to have been a part
of it.
Sauncho smilax, esq. (Benicio Del Toro)
Profile: Doc’s frequently consulted attorney, who actually practices
maritime law, which ultimately comes in handy.
Del Toro on Sauncho: He’s a maritime lawyer. He’s on the right side of
things, but he’s outside his element. He always has an angle, whether
it’s money from his client or getting his hands on the Golden Fang
sailboat. He and Doc have what appears to be a professional relationship
but I think deep down Sauncho really cares for him. Maybe he even looks
up to him or perhaps they share the same taste buds.
On adapting Pynchon: What’s interesting to me is that the book is
already kind of written like a movie, where Pynchon will cut together a
conversation with two characters in one time and place then you’re with
those same two characters in another time and place. When I read the
book and then the script, I knew it was going to be a really funky and
original take on politics and the period.
On the period: Everything was big. Cars were big. Phones were big. Hair
was big. Music was big. Unlike now, where everything is molecule-sized,
floating in the air.
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"Inherent
Vice" advertised as "in 70mm" at the Cinerama Dome / Arclight cinema in
Hollywood.
Penny Kimball (Reese Witherspoon)
Profile: Deputy Los Angeles D.A.—and Doc’s occasional “flatlander”
fling.
Pynchon describes Penny: Presently in strolled Penny, one hand loosely
in a jacket pocket, exchanging civilized remarks with any number of
perfectly groomed co-workers. She was wearing shades and one of those
gray polyester business outfits with a very short skirt.
On reuniting with Phoenix: “I was excited to work with him again in
these two very different roles. Joaquin always transforms himself in
such an authentic way, and there’s something both hilarious and moving
about Doc—which Penny seems to see in him, despite their obvious
differences.”
On Anderson’s directing style: “It’s a one-of-a-kind experience. He’s so
tuned into this world and he’s got such a great sense of humor. He keeps
things feeling very alive, yet relaxed and open, which is a pleasure for
actors.”
Hope Harlingen (Jena Malone)
Profile: Ex-doper who hires Doc to find out what happened to her
supposedly dead husband, Coy.
Malone on Hope: Paul and I started with Pynchon’s words, and that really
helped to hone in on what we wanted to highlight. We talked a lot about
the words—but as soon as I was sitting at the table with Doc, it was a
matter of letting everything go. I do think Hope in her own way kind of
represents the hope for love, something that truly seemed lost.
On Hope’s teeth: It’s the late `60s becoming the `70s, Nixon’s in office
and everything is sort of losing its veneer and gloss—just like Hope’s
teeth.
On pairing Paul Thomas Anderson with Pynchon: Paul’s such an interesting
American filmmaker. In a time when people are so innovative with
technology, he's an innovator of the human heart. Putting him together
with Pynchon, who is this sort of poetic, countercultural voice of
American myth…I just thought it was one of the best pairings of a
filmmaker and author I had ever heard of.
On playing opposite Joaquin: What was most fascinating to me about
watching Joaquin take on this role is that he's so smart, yet he’s got
this massive, gentle heart—and he brought all of that to the role of
Doc, which is all haze, mist and paranoia. It was thrilling to watch.
Coy Harlingen (Owen Wilson)
Profile: Undercover sax player who, for unknown but suspect reasons,
faked his own death and is now hiding out with a band in Topanga Canyon.
Wilson on Coy: Coy is a person who has fallen onto hard times, he's
become sort of addicted, and he finally decides the best way to help his
wife and their child is to become an informant. But he’s also the guy
who tries to help Doc fully understand what is going on with the Golden
Fang--except Coy is not ever really able to shed too much light on it,
so their encounters have this sort of mysterious quality. They’re
fringed with paranoia. But I think Coy sort of likes that feeling of
paranoia, he’s gotten so into it.
On The Golden Fang: It’s this sort of ominous syndicate pulling the
strings behind all the mysteries Doc is investigating. Paul says
metaphorically it’s sort of a catchall for everybody's paranoia. It’s
anything and everything that could be bad or go wrong. I guess Golden
Fang is like Murphy’s Law in a way.
On Joaquin disappearing into the role: I wasn't really even thinking
that it's Joaquin. I was thinking this is Doc. He really looked so
different, he was just this burnout PI and when we were doing scenes
together it was just very, very natural and easy.
On the way Anderson shoots: He does a lot of one-shots, and it feels
very real. It’s actually more like a real conversation and the way you
work it becomes a little bit more like sports, where you’re hitting the
ball back and forth with the other actors. I get more adrenaline when it
feels like that.
On why Doc wants to save Coy: You know, I think Doc might be exasperated
by all these people but he also kind of cares about them. Coy and Hope
really shouldn’t have been parents, but now they are, and there is this
love between them and I think Doc sees that and he wants to help.
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"Inherent
Vice" advertised as "in 70mm" at the Arclight cinema in Hollywood.
Jade (Hong Chau)
Profile: Manager of Chick Planet, the “massage parlor” where Doc finds
the plot thickening.
Hong on Jade: Pynchon has really great descriptions of all of his
characters, and I think my favorite one for Jade is that she's a small,
perfect Asian dewdrop. I thought of Jade as a kind of little genie who
floats around Los Angeles and just pops up at random times, and it's
usually to help Doc.
On Doc and Jade: I like Doc and Jade's relationship because they're just
two strangers who meet and kind of immediately decide that they're going
to help each other without the attitude of “what's in it for me.” That
contrasts with a lot of the other characters that Doc encounters through
the story.
On Joaquin: A lot of people think he’s this weird guy, and it makes me
feel protective of him. He’s funny and sweet; I wish people knew that.
He’s not an actor where you say, “Oh, he's just playing himself again in
this role!” He loves his work and it really means something to him and
you can tell that.
On the period: Everything—the hair, the wardrobe, the props—was vintage
and so authentic. Paul is not only very detail-oriented, he also sees
everything. I remember there was one day where he stopped a scene
because he saw on the monitor that one of the extras was holding a
transistor radio and poking it like it was an iPad. How did he even see
that? But he notices so much and it’s important to creating a film like
this.
Tariq Khalil (Michael Kenneth Williams)
Profile: Ex-con and Black Guerilla Family member who asks Doc to track
down a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, who also happens to be Mickey
Wolfmann’s bodyguard.
Williams on his first time working with Anderson: The process on this
film was a very different one for me. Most of my work has been in
television where they crack the whip and everything is just about time,
time, time. And then I get to this situation and Paul starts with “let's
sit down and talk about this.” So I knew I was safe and in good hands.
Williams on Phoenix: I came into the project as a huge fan and,
honestly, I was very intimidated to be invited to this table to play
with such an amazing and immense talent. So I came with a lot of nervous
energy—but then Joaquin was just so generous with me.
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"Inherent
Vice" advertised as "in 70mm" for the French premiere.
Crocker Fenway (Martin Donovan)
Profile: AKA The Dark Prince of Palos Verdes, a well-connected lawyer
and ex-client of Doc’s who also happens to represent the Golden Fang.
Pynchon writing Crocker Fenway: “We’re in place. We’ve been in place
forever. Look around. Real estate, water rights, oil, cheap labor—all of
that’s ours, it’s always been ours. And you, at the end of the day what
are you? One more unit in this swarm of transients who come and go
without pause here in the sunny Southland, eager to be bought off with a
car of a certain make, model, and year, a blonde in a bikini, thirty
seconds on some excuse for a wave - a chili dog, for Christ’s sake.” He
shrugged. “We will never run out of you people. The supply is
inexhaustible.”
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Japonica Fenway (Sasha Pieterse)
Profile: Crocker Fenway’s wayward daughter, who Doc once rescued from an
unspecified hippie horror.
Pieterse on Japonica: She’s lost but yet she does know what she wants.
She has felt repressed by her father and it’s natural for a person her
age to want to get as far as possible away from that. She’s looking for
freedom, even though being with Rudy Blatnoyd is just a façade. What’s
most interesting to me about Japonica is that she is feeling this
transitional time in her own way, different from Doc or any other
character.
On Crocker Fenway: He is the dark lord of Palos Verdes. He’s this
twisted, powerful lawyer who pretends to be one person. He’s actually
the opposite and he’s involved with a lot of terrible stuff.
On the scene in Dr. Blatnoyd’s office: It was so much fun. We were in
this very 1960s-decorated room with this incredible carpet and in walks
Martin Short in his purple velvet suit. It was perfect.
On Doc: He’s the best PI ever. He’s very chill. It might be because of
substances that he’s on but I feel like he’d still kind of be that same
person even if he wasn’t on everything. I find it very believable the
way he finds all these clues by accident, running into different people
who help him in different ways. I love that he doesn’t look like someone
who could have any authority—that makes it really comical. I think the
thing about Doc is that it all boils down to him really caring about
people. He’s not just following this trail for one reason. There are a
lot of purposes in this case.
Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd, D.D.S. (Martin Short)
Profile: A powder-loving dentist embroiled in the mysterious Golden Fang
empire.
Short on Blatnoyd: Paul described him as this kind of lunatic who is a
dentist who likes young women and cocaine—so it was typecasting. I
suppose he’s someone who went to dentistry school but now it’s all about
free love, free drugs, breaking the law and taking advantage of the
system while being condescending towards hippies, unless they are young
and willing…
On the adaptation: I thought the script was amazingly loyal to Thomas
Pynchon. And at times Paul would even have the book on the set with him
and he’d look at the scene in there and say, “Let's try this line.” I
loved how my character is so authentic to the book, even in the way he's
dressed. I never got the impression that Paul was trying to reinvent
what Pynchon had written.
On Dr. Blatnoyd’s relationship with Doc: I think he’s a bit paranoid
about him at first but then he realizes he’s just a dirty hippie who
wants drugs, and they form that bond. That bond of hippie drugs.
On The Golden Fang: For Rudy, I think Golden Fang is just an opportunity
to get what he wants. It’s a permission slip to let him be the biggest
hedonist imaginable, which, let's face it, Rudy is.
On working with Anderson: He’s very open and experimental and it lets
you get into that place where you're in a very relaxed state. It allows
you to keep the modern world away and flow into 1970...
Sortilège (Joanna Newsom)
Profile: Doc’s former employee whose unusual gifts lie in seeing
invisible forces, solving emotional puzzles, and comprehending love; she
serves as the film’s narrator.
Newsom on Sortilège: Paul really expanded her character from the book to
become the narrator. And he also conferred on her this sort of
all-seeing vision—she’s a bit of a mystic. She can see inside other
people’s inner lives and see the bigger picture from a distance. She’s a
kind of oracle but she doesn’t really interfere with the characters. She
just observes and maybe gives little hints. Pynchon’s descriptive
passages are so beautiful—it’s great to be able to hear some of that
language in the film.
On Doc’s moral grounding: Doc kind of stumbles into doing the right
thing at any given moment. He has a code, but it’s not rigid. In my
view, though, he’s like this questing knight. I see the whole story as
an epic battle between the Age of Aquarius and this sort of dark
corruption that’s sneaking in with hard drugs and Charlie Manson and
this sense of impending doom. Within that, Doc is a crusader for good.
On Joaquin: He has this sort of magical, alchemical quality of making
you completely believe in his character. When we had our first scene, I
believed 100 percent that he was speaking to Sortilège, and that was the
most helpful thing I could have ever imagined because he was so present.
On the Ouija Board sequence: It’s one of the moments in the story when
there’s a profound sense of magical realism. It’s unlikely that a Ouija
board would guide a person to a doper’s hotline. It’s unlikely, but not
impossible. So you have reality shifting into a sort of magic, but what
I love is that Paul has this magical scene play out in a very sort of
gritty, real way.
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The Los Angeles of “Inherent Vice"
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The circa 1970 Greater Los Angeles of Inherent Vice is a land of
contradicting moods: sprawling yet claustrophobic, sun-lit yet
disorienting. As Doc pursues his investigations, he moves from his
natural habitat of beachside surf shacks across the So Cal map to LAPD’s
Parker Center, Topanga mansions, seedy massage parlors, dust-swept
construction sites, coastal diners, fanciful rehab centers and the sleek
headquarters of the omnipresent Golden Fang. Similarly, he encounters
people from every subculture and slice of society– from stoners,
political militants and cops to dentists, lawyers and real estate fat
cats.
While this fluidity lends itself to the literary page, the question for
Paul Thomas Anderson was how Pynchon’s writing could become a textured,
trancelike cinematic experience. The film needed to forge its own
inviting world, one that beckons the audience into Doc’s need to probe
the mysteries of Shasta, Mickey Wolfmann and the Golden Fang. But
Anderson also wanted that world to feel natural and lived-in, as well as
casually comical, without being overtly stylized.
He did so in collaboration with a close-knit team who have worked
together on many of his movies: cinematographer Robert Elswit, an Oscar
winner for “There Will Be Blood,” who shot “Inherent Vice” on 35mm film
in keeping with both the `70s aesthetic and the dream-like nature of
Doc’s reality; production designer David Crank; costume designer Mark
Bridges; and editor Leslie Jones.
Crank, who was art director on “There Will Be Blood” and co-production
designer on "The Master" with Jack Fisk, says it all started with
extended road trips around Los Angeles, through the tangle of freeways
and canyon roads, looking for the lost traces of 1970 and the environs
Doc would have experienced. “There was a rather long scouting period,”
Crank notes. “We visited and re-visited places and it’s a very intuitive
process with Paul, where he tries to react in the moment to the places
and how they match with the mood in his mind.”
While Pynchon’s language was always an under-the-surface influence,
Crank explains that it became fused with Anderson’s way of seeing. “What
I loved about the script is that I think Paul really encapsulated
Pynchon in a way that makes him accessible to a movie audience. He
distilled that spirit without getting too mired in the details, which
could have been a temptation,” he observes. “So, though we referred to
the book and sometimes looked back to see what Pynchon wrote, we tried
to never be enslaved by it. If you’re too literal about a work of
literature, it doesn’t usually work. And what Paul always likes to do is
to simplify and strip back until you have just the right kind of shell
in which the actors can do their work.”
Crank observes that Anderson has become increasingly attuned to a
flexible, unrestricted naturalism over his last several films. “He’s
become more and more interested in the organic,” says the production
designer, “and I can see why that approach is so exciting to him. In my
job, that meant working with him location by location. We kept in mind
all the different thematic elements of the film, but the idea was never
to get stuck on them.”
The phase shift between the `60s and `70s fascinated Crank. “It’s a
weird period in every way,” he muses. “It’s really after the Flower
Power moment, but it’s before the real `70s style kicked in. It’s a true
transitional era. So that was exciting but there was also a danger of
making the design just a collection of bizarre things. That was half the
battle: finding elements that reflect that time but didn’t really stand
out or distract. The idea was to never leave you thinking, ‘Oh, this is
a period film.’ We wanted more of a worn look, a look of people living
in this world and the objects in a room are just there because they
wound up there. We didn’t want sets that look art-directed. We didn’t
talk about where things should feel noir and where they should be more
in the hippie realm. It’s all part of this same world.”
For Doc’s Gordita Beach apartment, Crank first scoured Manhattan Beach
for leftover `60s-era shacks. He found precisely what he was looking for
but shooting there proved impossible, so he recreated the house as a
set. “It was a house that belonged to a woman who was a real free
spirit—and I think Paul was captivated by the feeling in that house, so
we tried to re-create that.”
Doc’s unexpected office was also built as a set. “Every time we tried to
go too crazy with his office Paul and I felt it was too much,” he
recalls. “So we went very simple and there’s something about that bare
cinder block room that really seems to suit all the things Doc does in
there.”
By contrast, Mickey Wolfmann’s mansion was a plush, vintage mid-Century
classic. “We looked at a ton of mansions, but this one stood out because
it really hadn’t been touched,” Crank says. “It still had those
beautiful stone walls that barely need any decoration and it didn’t take
much to put it right into that period. It seemed to have all the best
things of `60s design. Then later, we built the cavernous tie closet as
a separate set.”
Crank also had the task of recreating the interiors of Los Angeles’
once-storied Parker Center. Originally designed by architect Welton
Becket—who also designed the iconic Capitol Records building and
Cinerama Dome in Hollywood—the eight-story, rectangular complex built in
the modernist International Style served as LAPD’s downtown headquarters
from 1954 to 2009, and was frequently seen in police dramas of the `50s,
`60s and `70s. In 2009, the LAPD moved to new digs when Parker Center
was deemed seismically dangerous. Though still standing, the building is
now closed to the public.
“We actually recreated Parker Center in a homeless mission on Skid Row
downtown,” Crank explains. “We found this great library that had just
that kind of long row of windows and we re-dressed it and it really felt
right.”
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Meanwhile, the less visible machinations of the Golden Fang were forged
within Ambassador College in Pasadena. “It’s a building with great
proportions,” says Crank, “and we were able to use a lot of the original
furniture for Dr. Blatnoyd’s office, though we did re-cover the chairs
in orange.”
The film traversed more than 60 locations, from the Chowder Barge diner
in San Pedro to a rambling Topanga estate belonging to a couple of
artists to a lot in Lancaster that stood in for the Wild West feel of
the Channel View Estates construction site. Bigfoot’s house belonged to
an older gentleman in Baldwin Hills, while Adrian Prussia’s
office/torture-chamber was unearthed in Compton. The posh club where
Crocker Fenway meets Doc was created in the basement of the Los Angeles
Theater, which was also used in “The Master.”
“It was a very interesting project where we didn’t go into anything with
a rigid plan but were constantly open to changes in the moment—and that
really seemed to fit the story. It could easily have been a bit
precious, but we felt it demanded more of a roughness and a real ‘go for
it’ mentality,” Crank relates. “Throughout everything, Paul was always
very open. He creates an atmosphere where anyone can approach him.
There’s a sense of ownership for everyone on the crew and I think that
brings out the best in people.
“The space Anderson leaves for creative anarchy to emerge is part of
what makes collaborating with him so special,” concludes Crank. “What’s
fun about him is you never know at the end of day where you’ll wind
up—stuff just comes at you and he’s always pushing you to veer slightly
left. It keeps you on your toes. I guess you could say with Paul you
never know what it’s going to be, but you always know it’s going to be
exciting and interesting.”
That same unrestricted atmosphere also inspired the work of costume
designer Mark Bridges, who previously worked with Anderson on “There
Will Be Blood,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” “Magnolia,” “Boogie Nights” and
“Hard Eight”—and also won an Oscar for the Silent Film Era costumes of
“The Artist.” On every project he does, Bridges starts by looking for
the most distinctive qualities of the characters—which in this case were
rampant.
“I started by reading the book, then the script, then making notes, then
looking at a lot of images from the era in photos, films, paintings,
illustrations, everything,” he recalls. “While looking at these images I
was asking myself questions about the characters: Where would they shop?
How would they present themselves to the world? How do they fit into the
scheme of 1970? And, I was also starting to think about how this period
might look fresh and interesting yet accessible to an audience today.”
He continues: “I then made a book for Paul and we talked a lot about the
right feeling and tone. So by the time each actor came in for a first
fitting, Paul and I already had a few directions we could take a
character. Then I worked directly with the actors, looking at how
different things fit and trying to give them everything they needed to
feel comfortable inhabiting their particular world and role. It was like
putting a big puzzle together, piece by piece.”
Pynchon’s imagery gave Bridges a rich jumping-off point. “Paul and I
were immediately excited about several specific Pynchon descriptions:
Dr. Blatnoyd’s suit, Coy’s disguise the first time we meet him and
Jade’s cocktail waitress look, all in the book,” he explains.
Sometimes a single Pynchon phrase could get the wheels turning. “When
you read a line like the one for Shasta—‘looking like she said she’d
never look’—that’s where I go to work as a costume designer,” he muses.
“What does that phrase mean for a girl that had previously lived on the
beach in only a bikini and tee? What would she need to wear to fit into
Mickey Wolfmann’s world, suddenly living in Hancock Park, going on
auditions, maybe hanging out in Beverly Hills? I felt a crochet dress
was the right choice to represent that phrase because it was a lot of
things at once: tasteful yet sexy, mod yet classic and, to me, very
1970. It’s also so very different from that bikini bottom and tee worn
during her life with Doc.”
Like Anderson, Bridges saw Doc in the mold of a Neil Young
iconoclast—scruffy, laid-back, a bit frayed and almost accidentally
cool. “The influence of Neil Young on Doc’s look was something that ran
through the entire thread of Joaquin’s costumes. Many times when I
needed an idea for Doc I would look at Neil’s choices during that era
and often find a unique period look that was great then and still looks
great today,” he says. “And then there was Joaquin’s gold ‘disguise’
suit, a vintage suit that appealed to me because of its interesting
color and cut, and was so very different from Doc’s day-to-day
wardrobe.”
Bridges utilized a mix of painstakingly sought-out vintage items and
handmade garments specific to the characters. “Shasta’s crochet dress
was an original dress from the period found in an antique mall—a lucky
find since most crochet dresses from the period have not survived these
last 45 years,” he elucidates. “I dyed it a bit to make the color
stronger and more appealing yet still accurate for the period. We had to
be very careful handling it, it was such a unique piece.”
He continues, “Dr. Blatnoyd’s velvet suit was handmade based on a
vintage prototype, and Sloane Wolfmann’s black bathing suit was inspired
by period images of Rudi Gernrich and Frederick’s of Hollywood, then
made in our costume shop, and customized in several fittings to get the
engineering just right. Jade’s Asian dresses were purchased in Chinatown
and altered into shapes evoking the period.”
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Serena
Scott Thomas in the film
"Inherent Vice" by Paul Thomas Anderson. Image by Warner Brothers
With the film set on the very knife’s edge between the `60s and `70s,
Bridges worked with a slightly more `70s palette, suggesting the
imminent shift to an era of gold and glam. “Look at Doc’s gold suit, or
the yellow dress of Japonica next to the plum of Dr. Blatnoyd, or the
bronze suit and salmon shirt of Bigfoot. These colors speak of the era,
and also hopefully help make the costumes fresh and memorable,” Bridges
says.
While Pynchon writes of Dr. Blatnoyd in an “ultraviolet” velvet suit,
Bridges played with several shades of purple. “I had Rudy Blatnoyd’s
suit made in two different colors of velvet, one a very strong
blue/purple—what I consider Pynchon ‘ultraviolet’—and the other in a
‘groovy’ plum color. Paul and I looked at the two choices on Martin
Short and decided in the moment on the groovy plum. I was very happy
with how it worked in the wood paneled office and with Japonica’s yellow
dress.”
The straighter side of 1970 Los Angeles emerges in the more
conservative, cultivated looks of Bigfoot, Penny and Crocker Fenway.
Says Bridges, “Bigfoot, Penny and Crocker represent The Establishment,
the complete opposite of the world Doc inhabits. The cultural divide at
the end of the `60s was so great that during my research I even found an
advertisement for The Establishment Wig, a wig to wear over your long
hair when ‘short hair is a must!’”
For Josh Brolin, Bridges looked back to the groomed detectives of a
prior era. “Bigfoot’s basic look is about 10 years earlier than 1970,”
the designer notes. “He’s wearing a more early `60s suit silhouette, but
I amped up the period colors in his costumes as the story goes on, so
you start seeing him in the salmon-colored shirt and then the bronze
suit for his final scene in the film. That suit was actually inspired by
Lee Marvin’s look in the 1967 film ‘Point Blank.’”
He saw Reese Witherspoon’s Penny as donning her lawyer clothing as a
kind of shield. “I love to use contrasts to play up the idea that a
character’s clothing isn’t always who they really are, just how they
want the world to see them,” Bridges explains. “The first time we see
Penny, she’s in a double-knit dress and jacket ensemble with a high
collar, which I designed for Reese. But then we see Penny later in the
film in a much different look at Doc’s house. Penny’s navy and white
dress was inspired by a pair of vintage shoes I found—and the length and
shape of her skirts were inspired by Faye Dunaway’s costumes in 1968’s
‘The Thomas Crown Affair.’”
Finally, Crocker Fenway presented the ultimate in ruling-class wear.
“The scene with Crocker needed to say The Establishment vs. The
Counterculture as soon as it began,” Bridges says. “A three-piece suit
for Crocker speaks volumes about who he is, suggesting both Senator and
crime boss in one costume. Against that, Doc’s very deliberate choice of
turtleneck and Indian necklace entirely ignores polite society’s dress
code.”
The great sweep of supporting characters took Bridges through numerous
styles of the era. “Each of the characters was a delight to imagine and
design and each one presented their own challenges,” he summarizes. “I
especially loved working on Jade and modifying the traditional Chinese
cheongsam into sexy little `60s outfits. Tariq was a challenge in
creating a real person and not the expected militant cliché. Luz could
have gone a few ways, she is described in the book differently, but we
went the sexy way and also explored a tougher ‘I’ll cut you’ look during
the fitting process. Overall, I was very pleased with how it all worked,
not only for the time period, but to create interesting moments and
compositions.”
Most gratifying for Bridges was seeing the diverse cast inhabit the
clothing. “There is a wonderful moment in a fitting with an actor when
the character is suddenly in the room. My theory is that moment happens
when an actor sees they look good but they feel like someone else. So
many of our actors took on their characters as they slipped on their
costumes,” he recalls. “Doc’s sandals made Joaquin walk differently,
more like Doc. Bigfoot’s high-waisted `60’s pants made Josh move more
like the men of the period, and Shasta maneuvering in that mini dress
required her to walk and sit differently than she would normally.”
He concludes, “I always feel the costumes are a success when the
external work of the costume design and the actor’s inner character work
complement each other to make a truly compelling character. I think that
happened in ‘Inherent Vice.’”
Following production, Anderson cut the extensive footage together with
Leslie Jones, with whom he worked on “The Master” and “Punch-Drunk
Love.” Jones, like Anderson, began by immersing herself in the expansive
consciousness of the Pynchon universe. “Pynchon’s style and rhythm is so
unique. It was a powerful inspiration for Paul’s adaptation, and it was
always an influence for us in editing,” she says. “I really felt that
Paul’s spontaneity with actors, and ease with the camera, seemed to
complement Pynchon’s language.”
The decision to use a narrator became a key that unlocked the
construction of the final film. “Having Sortilège as narrator allowed us
enormous flexibility with several things,” Jones explains. “Most
importantly, it gave us the luxury of using Pynchon’s voice to directly
comment on larger ideas and to present ‘the bigger picture,’ and it was
very exciting when that clicked.
“Some of our best discoveries and ‘aha’ moments on ‘Inherent Vice’ would
come after clumsy attempts to narrate or clarify a scene with
descriptive exposition,” she adds, “and then instead we would find a
more Pynchon-esque commentary and that was always more interesting and
poignant. I think this gave us permission to weave together the
different styles of the film, going in and out of noir, mixed with a
hippie trip.”
Equalizing the darkness of the noir elements with Doc’s fuzzy,
mind-blown way of experiencing the world was a constant source of
creative intrigue in the editing process. Jones says she and Anderson
found themselves always coming back to the beginning again, back to Doc
and that dimmed but undying dream of Gordita Beach.
“The challenge and the fun of the process was finding this balance:
figuring out which details of the plot were necessary, what could we
afford to not understand and still enjoy, and then balancing it all with
the politics, humor, absurdity and paranoia of the piece, along with
that spacey, drug-high feeling. We were always weighing the need for
clarity vs. the value of entertainment vs. emotional engagement,” she
says. “But with a story this concentrated, I think the best thing we did
is to constantly look at the film as if seeing it for the first time.”
That process of always looking at the story from a new skew seemed to
befit the looping, yet ever-changing, universe of Pynchon, who wrote in
Inherent Vice, “What goes around may come around, but it never ends up
exactly the same place, you ever notice? Like a record on a turntable,
all it takes is one groove's difference and the universe can be on into
a whole ‘nother song.”
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About the Cast
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Joaquin
Phoenix (left) and camera crew with a Panavision camera crossing the street
during a take in the film "Inherent Vice" by Paul Thomas Anderson. Image by
Warner Brothers
JOAQUIN PHOENIX (Larry “Doc” Sportello) earned a Golden Globe nomination
in 2014 for his performance in Spike Jonze’s original love story “Her,”
and in 2013 was nominated for the Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe and
Critics Choice Awards, to name only a few, for his critically acclaimed
performance as Freddie Quell in
"The Master". He most recently starred
opposite Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner in the James Gray
independent film “The Immigrant.”
Phoenix was born in Puerto Rico and began his acting career at the age
of eight. As a boy, he made numerous episodic television appearances, on
such hit television shows as “Hill Street Blues,” “The Fall Guy” and
“Murder, She Wrote.” He was a regular on the short-lived 1986 CBS series
"Morningstar/Eveningstar,” and followed, that same year, with his first
feature film role in “Spacecamp.” The following year, he starred in
“Russkies,” with sister Summer and Carole King. Two years later,
director Ron Howard cast the teenager as Dianne Wiest’s son in his
popular family comedy “Parenthood.” It wasn’t until 1996 that the young
actor returned to the fold with a stunning and critically acclaimed
performance opposite Nicole Kidman in Gus Van Sant’s “To Die For.” He
next co-starred with Liv Tyler, Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly in
“Inventing the Abbotts,” in 1997; and with Claire Danes, Sean Penn and
Jennifer Lopez in Oliver Stone’s “U-Turn.”
In 1998, Phoenix co-starred opposite Vince Vaughn in two very different
roles: as an American jailed in Malaysia for drug possession in “Return
to Paradise,” and as a dupe to Vaughn’s smooth-talking serial killer in
the black comedy “Clay Pigeons.” He next won acclaim for his role in
Joel Schumacher’s dark thriller “8mm,” with Nicolas Cage.
In 2000, a banner year for the actor, Phoenix earned his first Academy
Award nomination, co-starring opposite Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott’s
Oscar-winning Best Picture, “Gladiator.” In addition to nominations for
the Oscar, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA Award, he received awards as
Best Supporting Actor from the National Board of Review and The
Broadcast Films Critics Association. He followed with Philip Kaufman’s
Oscar-nominated “Quills,” opposite Kate Winslet and Geoffrey Rush, based
on Douglas McGrath’s play about the Marquis de Sade, for which he won
the Broadcast Film Critics Award as Best Supporting Actor. That same
year, he also starred with Mark Wahlberg, James Caan, Faye Dunaway,
Ellen Burstyn and Charlize Theron in James Gray’s “The Yards.”
Phoenix continued his busy career as Mel Gibson’s brother in the M.
Night Shyamalan blockbuster “Signs,” which earned nearly half a billion
dollars worldwide. He reteamed with Shyamalan two years later on his
gothic thriller “The Village.”
Phoenix went on to star in the dark comedy “Buffalo Soldiers,” opposite
Ed Harris; took the lead in the firefighting drama "Ladder 49," opposite
John Travolta; and, in 2004, earned high praise for his turn as a
cynical journalist witnessing the horrific genocide of the Tutsis in
Terry George’s “Hotel Rwanda.”
In 2006, Phoenix was hailed for his mesmerizing performance as legendary
singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, opposite Reese Witherspoon, in James
Mangold’s riveting biopic “Walk the Line.” For his performance, he
collected his second Academy Award nomination (this time, as Best Actor)
and won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical as well as earning
nominations for BAFTA, SAG, Critics Choice and Chicago Film Critics
Awards.
In October 2007, Phoenix starred in two films: “We Own the Night,” for
which he reteamed with Mark Wahlberg and director James Gray, and the
deeply moving “Reservation Road,” which reunited him with director Terry
George and Jennifer Connelly. He later reteamed with director Gray for
“Two Lovers,” opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Isabella Rossellini.
On October 27, 2008, Phoenix reportedly announced his retirement from
film in order to focus on his rap music, but the announcement turned out
to be part of his acting role in the mockumentary “I’m Still Here,”
directed by his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck. The film debuted at the
Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010
and was released in the summer of 2010.
A social activist, Phoenix has lent his support to a number of charities
and humanitarian organizations, notably Amnesty International, The Art
of Elysium, HEART, and The Peace Alliance, an organization which
campaigns for a United States Department of Peace; and is on the board
of directors for The Lunchbox Fund. In 2005, he received the
Humanitarian Award at the San Diego Film Festival for his work and
contribution to “Earthlings,” a video about the investigation of animal
abuse in factory farms, pet mills, industry and research, that he
narrated for Nation Earth. Also in 2005, he lent his voice to the
documentary “I’m Still Here: Real Diaries of Young People Who lived
during the Holocaust.”
Phoenix has also directed music videos for Ringside, She Wants Revenge,
People in Planes, Arckid, Albert Hammond, Jr. and the Silversun Pickups.
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Joaquin
Phoenix (Larry “Doc” Sportello) and Josh Brolin (Lt. Det. Christian F.
“Bigfoot” Bjornsen) as featured in the film "Inherent Vice" by Paul Thomas
Anderson. Image by Warner Brothers
JOSH BROLIN (Lt. Det. Christian F. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen) is an Academy
Award nominee who has emerged as one of Hollywood’s top leading men. A
powerful, sought-after film actor, Brolin continues to balance
challenging roles in both mainstream studio productions as well as
thought-provoking independents.
Brolin will next be seen in the Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller-directed
“Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For,” set to be released August 22nd by The
Weinstein Company. The actor recently completed production on “Everest”
opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, and John Hawkes. Based on the
book Thin Air, the film recounts the devastating events which occurred
as a group of hikers attempted to conquer the summit in 1996. He is
currently in production on Denis Villenueve’s “Sicario” which is about
an officer who travels across the Mexican border with a pair of
mercenaries to track down a notorious drug lord. The film also stars
Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro. Brolin recently signed on to star in
Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Hail, Caesar!” which was recently acquired by
Universal Pictures, co-starring George Clooney, Channing Tatum, and
Tilda Swinton.
In 2008, Brolin was nominated for an Academy Award, a Screen Actors
Guild Award and received awards from the New York Film Critics Circle
and the National Board of Review for his portrayal of Dan White in Gus
Van Sant's acclaimed film “Milk.” He starred in the Coen Brothers’ “True
Grit,” which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture;
Oliver Stone's “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” opposite Shia LaBeouf
and Michael Douglas. He received rave reviews for his portrayal of
George W. Bush in Oliver Stone's biopic, “W.” Prior to that, Brolin
earned a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of an ensemble for his work
in the Coen Brothers’ “No Country for Old Men,” which also won four
Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Additionally, Brolin starred in Ridley Scott's blockbuster “American Gangster” and was
nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of this ensemble.
His other film credits include: “Labor Day” directed by Jason Reitman;
Spike Lee’s “Old Boy”; “Gangster Squad”; “Men in Black 3”; “Planet
Terror”; part of the critically acclaimed Quentin Tarantino and Robert
Rodriguez double feature, “Grindhouse”; Woody Allen’s “You Will Meet a
Tall Dark Stranger” opposite Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts; “In the
Valley of Elah” for director Paul Haggis; John Stockwell's, “Into the
Blue”; Victor Nunez's “Coastlines”; Paul Verhoeven's blockbuster hit,
“Hollow Man”; Scott Silver's “Mod Squad”; Ole Bornedal's psychological
thriller “Nightwatch”; “Best Laid Plans” opposite Reese Witherspoon,
produced by Mike Newell; “All the Rage”; and Guillermo Del Toro's
science-fiction thriller, “Mimic.” Brolin also received recognition from
critics and audiences in David O. Russell's “Flirting with Disaster,”
portraying a bisexual federal agent, alongside an outstanding ensemble
cast led by Ben Stiller. Brolin made his feature film debut starring in
the action-comedy classic “Goonies,” directed by Richard Donner for
producer Steven Spielberg.
On television, Brolin made his mark as a series regular in the popular
ABC series “The Young Riders,” as well as “Private Eye” for NBC and
“Winnetka Road” for CBS. Brolin also received critical praise in the
TNT's epic miniseries “Into the West,” opposite Beau Bridges, Gary Busey
and Jessica Capshaw. In addition, Brolin starred in the title role of
NBC's acclaimed political drama, “Mr. Sterling.”
As a producer, Brolin joined Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Anthony Arnove,
and Howard Zinn, in a documentary entitled “The People Speak,” based on
Zinn’s influential 1980 book A People’s History of the United States.
The film, which aired on the History Channel in 2009, looked at
America’s struggles with war, class, race, and women’s rights, and
featured readings by Viggo Mortensen, Sean Penn, and David Strathairn,
among others. Brolin made his directing debut in 2008 with a short
entitled “X,” which he also wrote and produced. It premiered at the
Santa Barbara International Film Festival before screening at such
festivals as South by Southwest and the AFI Dallas Film Festival.
OWEN WILSON (Coy Harlingen) is one of contemporary cinema’s most
successful actors, having won great acclaim for his memorable turns in
mainstream and independent films. In 2011, Wilson starred in the Woody
Allen’s Academy Award-nominated feature “Midnight in Paris,” alongside
Rachel McAdams and Marion Cotillard. Wilson’s performance as
screenwriter and aspiring novelist Gil Pender garnered him a Golden
Globe nomination in the category of Best Actor in a Motion Picture
Musical or Comedy.
In December, Wilson will star in the third installment of the “Night at
the Museum” franchise, “Secret of the Tomb,” directed by Shawn Levy. In
the summer of 2015, Wilson will star in Jared Hess’s armored car heist
comedy, opposite Zach Galifianakis and Kristen Wiig.
Wilson most recently starred in the Peter Bogdanovich comedy “She’s
Funny That Way,” opposite Jennifer Aniston and produced by Wes Anderson
and Noah Baumbach, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and in
the thriller “The Coup,” opposite Michelle Monaghan and Pierce Brosnan
and directed by John Erick Dowdle.
Wilson’s string of box office successes also include “Little Fockers,”
the third installment of the blockbuster “Fockers” series, opposite Ben
Stiller and Robert De Niro; “Marley & Me,” with Jennifer Aniston, based
on the popular memoir by John Grogan; “Night At The Museum” and the
sequel, “Night At The Museum 2: Battle Of The Smithsonian,” opposite
Robin Williams and Ben Stiller; the smash hit comedy “Wedding Crashers,”
opposite Vince Vaughn; the romantic comedy “You, Me And Dupree”; and as
the voice of Lightning McQueen in Disney’s “Cars” and “Cars 2.”
Wilson starred opposite Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman in Wes
Anderson’s critically acclaimed film “The Darjeeling Limited,” about
brothers taking a spiritual journey through India to rekindle their
bond. Wilson has collaborated with director Anderson seven times,
including “The Grand Budapest Hotel”; “The Life Aquatic With Steve
Zissou,” co-starring Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston; “The Royal
Tenenbaums,” for which he and Anderson were nominated for an Academy
Award for Best Original Screenplay; “Rushmore,” which Wilson co-wrote
and co-executive produced; and Anderson’s directorial debut, “Bottle
Rocket,” which Wilson starred in and co-wrote. Wilson also lent his
voice to Anderson’s Academy Award-nominated animated feature “Fantastic
Mr. Fox.”
Wilson’s additional acting credits include “The Internship,” “Free
Birds,” “Are You Here,” James L. Brooks’ romantic comedy “How Do You
Know,” “The Big Year,” “Hall Pass,” “Marmaduke,” “Starsky & Hutch,”
“Zoolander,” “Drillbit Taylor,” “The Wendell Baker Story,” “Shanghai
Noon,” “Behind Enemy Lines,” “I Spy,” “Shanghai Knights,” “Armageddon,”
“The Minus Man” and “The Cable Guy.”
KATHERINE WATERSTON (Shasta Fey Hepworth) was seen in “The Disappearance
of Eleanor Rigby” opposite Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy which
premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. She also appeared in Kelly
Reichardt’s “Night Moves” opposite Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, and
Jesse Eisenberg which also premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and
was distributed by Cinedigm.
Katherine was recently seen recurring in the critically acclaimed HBO
series “Boardwalk Empire.”
Katherine’s other credits include “Michael Clayton” directed by Tony
Gilroy for Warner Brothers, “Taking Woodstock” directed by Ang Lee for
Focus Features, and “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City” directed by
Paul Weitz.
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REESE WITHERSPOON (Deputy D.A. Penny Kimball) is an Academy Award winner
who has created the kind of unforgettable characters that connect with
critics and audiences alike, making her one of Hollywood’s most sought
after actresses. In 2012, Witherspoon partnered with producer Bruna
Papandrea to launch Pacific Standard Films. The new production banner
hit the ground running, setting up adaptations of bestsellers “Wild” and
“Gone Girl,” as well as a range of comedies and dramas.
Witherspoon can currently be seen in “The Good Lie,” the story of the
Lost Boys of Sudan. She recently wrapped production on a film in which
she stars alongside Sofia Vergara. Produced by Pacific Standard Films
and directed by Anne Fletcher, the comedy follows the story of a police
officer, played by Witherspoon, who goes on a run in Texas with a
prisoner, played by Vergara. The film is slated for release on May 8,
2015.
Witherspoon will also be seen in the upcoming film adaptation of Cheryl
Strayed’s eponymous memoir “Wild,” which is also being produced under
the Pacific Standard banner and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée.
Witherspoon portrays Cheryl Strayed on her 1000-mile hike along the
Pacific Crest Trail to help cope with her mother’s death, a failed
relationship, and a drug addiction. The film will have a limited release
on December 5, 2014.
Witherspoon was last seen in Atom Egoyan’s drama “Devil’s Knot,”
opposite Colin Firth, based on the notorious West Memphis Three case.
She plays Pam Hobbs, the mother of one of three young murder victims.
The film debuted at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Prior
to that, Witherspoon starred in Jeff Nichols’ coming-of-age drama “Mud,”
alongside Matthew McConaughey. The film premiered to rave reviews in
competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and its domestic debut at
the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
Previously, Witherspoon was seen in the romantic comedy “This Means
War,” directed by McG. She stars alongside Tom Hardy and Chris Pine, who
play two CIA agents and best friends that discover that they are dating
the same woman. Witherspoon was also seen in the period love story
“Water for Elephants,” with Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz.
In 2009, Witherspoon was heard as the voice of Susan Murphy in the 2009
animated film “Monsters vs. Aliens,” and also starred opposite Vince
Vaughn in the hit comedy “Four Christmases.” In 2010, she received her
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Witherspoon strongly supports the passage of the International Violence
Against Women’s act, which creates a comprehensive approach to combat
violence. Witherspoon has been active on behalf of the Rape Treatment
Center at the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Save the Children.
She currently serves on the board of the Children’s Defense Fund, with
whom she has been involved for many years, raising money and awareness
for their many programs. Since 2010, Witherspoon has been actively
involved in Stand Up to Cancer and recently hosted their annual benefit.
In 2006, her extraordinary performance as June Carter Cash in the
bio-pic “Walk the Line” earned her the Academy Award for Best
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, as well as the BAFTA,
Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, New York Film Critics
Award, Broadcast Film Critics Award, People’s Choice Award and 11 other
awards.
She is also known for her indelible performance as Tracy Flick in
Alexander Payne’s “Election,” and the loveable Elle Woods in the
break-out hits “Legally Blonde” and “Legally Blonde 2.”
Her other notable films include “Sweet Home Alabama,” which had the
largest opening at the time for a female-driven romantic comedy, Mira
Nair’s “Vanity Fair,” Gary Ross’ “Pleasantville,” and the teen cult
classic, “Cruel Intentions.”
BENICIO DEL TORO (Sauncho Smilax, Esq.) has earned critical accolades
throughout his career, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actor for his role in Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic” as well as an Oscar
nomination for his work in Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s “21 Grams.” Del
Toro re-teamed with Soderbergh to star in the biography of Che Guevera.
He starred opposite Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins in Joe Johnston’s
“The Wolfman” and as Lado in Oliver Stone’s “Savages.” He was also seen
as Jimmy, the lead in “Jimmy P”; the film was screened at the 2013
Cannes Film Festival. He can currently be seen in the blockbuster sci-fi
action film “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Next year he will play Pablo
Escobar in “Paradise Lost”, Mambru in Fernando Leon’s “A Perfect Day,”
and is currently in production on Denis Villeneuve’s “Sicario.”
Del Toro’s previous works include the film adaptation of Frank Miller’s
graphic novel “Sin City,” directed by Robert Rodriquez; Peter Weir's
“Fearless”; George Huang’s “Swimming with Sharks”; Abel Ferrara’'s “The
Funeral”; Guy Ritchie's “Snatch”; Sean Penn’s “The Indian Runner” and
“The Pledge”; Christopher McQuarrie’s “The Way of the Gun"; William
Friedkin’s “The Hunted”; Susanne Bier’s “Things We Lost in the Fire,”
starring opposite Halle Berry; and as Dr. Gonzo in Terry Gilliam’s “Fear
and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
Del Toro made his motion picture debut in John Glen’s “License to Kill,”
opposite Timothy Dalton’s James Bond, and has earned critical acclaim
for his performances ever since. In addition to winning an Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actor in Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic,” his
performance also garnered a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award
and BAFTA Awards, the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin International Film
Festival, as well as citations from the New York Film Critics Circle,
the National Society of Film Critics, and the Chicago Film Critics
Association. His work in “21 Grams” also earned Del Toro the Audience
Award for Best Actor at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival. He
earned Independent Spirit Awards for his performances as Fred Fenster in
Bryan Singer’s “The Usual Suspects,” and as Benny Dalmau in Julian
Schnabel's “Basquiat.”
Born in Puerto Rico, Del Toro grew up in Pennsylvania. He attended the
University of California at San Diego, where he appeared in numerous
student productions, one of which led to his performing at a drama
festival at the Lafayette Theater in New York. Del Toro studied at the
Stella Adler Conservatory under the tutelage of Arthur Mendoza.
MARTIN SHORT (Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd, D.D.S.) a celebrated comedian and
actor, has won fans and accolades in television, film and theater since
his breakout season on “Saturday Night Live” almost 30 years ago; he
returned to “SNL” to host their Christmas special on Dec 15, 2012.
Short won his first Emmy in 1982 while working on Canada’s “SCTV Comedy
Network,” which brought him to the attention of the producers of
“Saturday Night Live.” He became a fan-favorite for his portrayal of
characters such as Ed Grimley, lawyer Nathan Thurm and “legendary
songwriter” Irving Cohen.
His popularity and exposure on “Saturday Night Live” led Short to cross
over quickly into feature films. He made his debut in “Three Amigos,”
and followed with “Inner Space,” “Three Fugitives,” “Clifford,” “Pure
Luck” and Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks.” One of Short’s most memorable
roles was in the remake of “Father of the Bride,” as Franck the wedding
planner, a role he reprised a few years later in “Father of the Bride
Part II.” Short is featured in the animated film “Madagascar 3: Europe’s
Most Wanted,” and the Tim Burton film “Frankenweenie.”
An accomplished stage actor, Short won a Tony and an Outer Critics
Circle Award for his role in the revival of “Little Me.” He was also
nominated for a Tony and took home an Outer Critics Circle Award for the
musical version of Neil Simon’s “The Goodbye Girl.” He co-wrote and
starred in “Fame Becomes Me.”
Short returned to television in an Emmy-nominated role for the
mini-series “Merlin,” and host of “The Martin Short Show,” which
garnered him seven Emmy nominations. Short also wrote, produced and
starred in three comedy specials, winning two Cable ACE awards and an
Emmy. In 2001, he launched the critically acclaimed “Primetime Glick,”
garnering another five Emmy nominations. Short was nominated for his
19th Emmy award in 2010, for his work as the lawyer Leonard Winstone on
the critically acclaimed FX series “Damages.”
Short was most recently seen on the CBS hit comedy series “How I Met
Your Mother,” in the recurring role of Garrison Cootes. His voice can be
heard as the Cat in the critically acclaimed PBS series “The Cat in the
Hat Knows a Lot About That.” He can next be seen starring in the new FOX
series “Mulaney,” premiering on October 5, 2014.
His much anticipated memoir, titled I Must Say, will be released on
November 4, 2014 through HarperCollins Publishing.
In 1994, Short was awarded the Order of Canada, the Canadian equivalent
to British Knighthood. He was also inducted into the Canadian Walk of
Fame in June 2000.
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JENA MALONE (Hope Harlingen) is a rising actress, distinguished by her
versatility and multidimensional roles, who continues to evolve with
each new project.
Malone can next be seen in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.” She is
reprising her role as Johanna Mason, the tribute from District 7, who is
proficient with an axe. The film was released on November 21, 2014.
Malone previously starred in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” which
has grossed over $800 million dollars worldwide and is the highest
grossing film released in 2013 in the United States.
She most recently wrapped production on Oren Moverman’s “Time Out of
Mind,” starring alongside Richard Gere. The film is about a New Yorker
who enters a shelter when he runs out of housing options, then struggles
to put the pieces of his life back together and fix a troubled
relationship with his estranged daughter. Additionally, Malone recently
wrapped production on Mitchell Lichtenstein's “Angelica,” a
psychological thriller set in 1880s London, based on the novel of the
same name by bestselling author Arthur Phillip. Malone will play
Constance, a young shop girl who falls for and marries Dr. Joseph
Barton. After the difficult childbirth of their daughter, Angelica,
doctor-ordered celibacy creates a rift in the Bartons' marriage and a
ghostly force enters their home.
Malone was recently cast to play the lead role in Dori Oskowitz's
“Claire.” The American remake of Eric Rohmer's 1982 French pic “Le Beau
Mariage” follows an eccentric young woman in her twenties living in Long
Island with her aunt and teenage cousin. Fed up with her married painter
lover, Claire sets her sights on a man she barely knows with aims to get
herself married.
Malone starred opposite Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton in the History
Channel's mini-series “Hatfields & McCoys,” which is based on a true
story and chronicles the bloody hostilities between two clans that
escalated to the point of near war between two states. The mini-series
broke cable records and became the new most-watched entertainment
telecast of all time on cable, and also earned an Emmy Nomination for
Outstanding Mini-Series and a Golden Globe Nomination for Best
Mini-Series.
Previously, Malone starred in Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch,” Ami Mann's
“Dakota,” Oren Moverman’s “The Messenger,” Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild,”
Anthony Minghella’s “Cold Mountain,” Brian Dannelly’s “Saved!,” Joe
Wright’s “Pride and Prejudice,” M. Blash’s “The Wait” and Brian
Savelson’s “In Our Nature.” As a young actress, Malone starred opposite
Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon in “Stepmom,” the cult classic “Donnie
Darko,” and her very first role in the independent film “Bastard out of
Carolina,” which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for
Best Debut Performance.
Malone has guest starred on several television series, including “Law &
Order” and “Chicago Hope,” and her performance in the TV film “Hope”
earned Malone a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an
Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV.
In Spring 2013, Malone directed her first music video, for the band
Lavender Diamond. The video for “The Incorruptible Heart” was released
exclusively on MTV Buzzworthy.
Malone is also currently touring with her band, The Shoe. She and her
bandmate, Lem Jay Ignacio, met in 2008, and shortly after started
recording together. Malone built an instrument she plays called “The
Shoe,” which includes an old steamer trunk with a plethora of electronic
instruments inside. Their first EP, At Lem Jay’'s Garage, came out in
2009 under her label There Was an Old Woman Records. Their full-length
album I’m Okay was released in spring 2014.
JOANNA NEWSOM (Sortilège) has been hailed by the New York Times as one
of indie music’s leading lights, and she extends her talent repertoire
beyond singer, songwriter and harpist with her recent venture into film
in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Inherent Vice.”
Classically trained as a harpist, Newsom began attracting attention as a
songwriter after her home recordings found their way into the hands of
record label Drag City, in 2002. She released her first full-length
album, The Milk-Eyed Mender, in 2003, which she supported on solo tours
throughout the U.S. and Europe over the next few years, as well as with
television performances on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “Later…with Jools
Holland.”
In 2006, Newsom released her sophomore album Ys, featuring orchestral
arrangements by Van Dyke Parks and recorded by Steve Albini. The album
garnered sweeping acclaim, with its first pressing selling out
worldwide. Her tour for the album featured a stripped-down backing band,
comprised of drums, guitar, violin, and banjo. Newsom also performed in
a series of sold-out headlining concerts accompanied by full orchestras,
at such venues as Royal Albert Hall in London, Sydney Opera House, and
the Brooklyn Academy of Music. During this time, Newsom’s music was also
the subject of a book of essays and critical analyses by Dave Eggers and
other admirers, called Visions of Joanna Newsom (Roan Press).
Her third album, Have One on Me, was released in 2009. A triple record,
it received widespread critical praise, and earned Newsom her best chart
positions to date. She toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Latin
America, and the United States in support of Have One on Me, including
performances on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “The Late Show
With Dave Letterman,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and the “Austin City Limits”
television program. She also appeared on “Portlandia” during this time,
and branched out into musical collaborations with Philip Glass, The
Roots and Fleet Foxes. In 2010, Newsom was the subject of a tribute
record benefiting Oxfam and featuring M. Ward, Billy Bragg, and others
covering her songs.
ERIC ROBERTS (Michael Z. Wolfmann) is an Academy Award nominee for his
role in “Runaway Train” and a three-time Golden Globe nominee for
“Runaway Train,” “Star 80” and “King of the Gypsies.”
In addition, Roberts received critical acclaim at the Sundance Film
Festival for his roles in “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints,” in 2006,
and “It’s My Party,” in 1996. He starred in “La Cucaracha,” which won
Best Film at the Austin Film Festival in 1998, and for which Roberts won
Best Actor at the New York Independent Film Festival that same year.
Other notable performances include his roles in “Final Analysis,” “The
Pope of Greenwich Village,” “Raggedy Man,” “Hollywood Dreams,”
“Babyfever,” “Heaven’s Prisoners,” “The Dark Knight” and “The
Expendables.”
On television, Roberts has received international attention for roles in
“Heroes,” “Entourage” and “The L Word.” He also made a profound impact
in the Emmy-nominated adaptation of Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood,”
directed by Jonathan Kaplan. He joined the cast of the Starz series
“Crash” for its second season, playing the kind of complex character
Roberts is known for.
Roberts has also diversified into music videos, appearing in Sophie
Muller’s “Mr. Brightside” video for The Killers, plus its upcoming
prequel, and Brett Ratner’s video for Mariah Carey’s “Emancipation of
Mimi”—both award winners. One of his most popular appearances was as the
surprised recipient of a heartfelt, spontaneous shout out from “The
Wrestler’s” Mickey Rourke at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards.
In 1989, Roberts won the Theatre World Award for his role on Broadway in
“Burn This.” He returned to the New York stage in 2003 in “The
Exonerated,” and appeared in the show’s touring company as well.
Roberts was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, and grew up in and around the
Atlanta area. He began his career in theatre, and as an actor in his
late teens in New York City on the soap opera “Another World.” His
personal passions can be explored at naturalchild.org and
preciouspaws.org
HONG CHAU (Jade) is making her film debut in “Inherent Vice.” She and
her family immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam and settled in New
Orleans, LA. More of an introvert, she fancied writing and had never
considered becoming an actor. While in New York, she took acting and
improv classes. Initially, it was to help overcome her shyness, but she
discovered that she secretly enjoyed performing.
With the encouragement of a veteran sitcom director, she moved to Los
Angeles to pursue acting. Soon after arriving in Hollywood, Chau had the
fortune of returning to her hometown of New Orleans to play the role of
Linh in David Simon’s HBO series “Treme” for three seasons. She is
currently a series regular on the NBC comedy “A to Z.”
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MAYA RUDOLPH (Petunia Leeway) is an Emmy Award-nominated actress most
widely known for her turn on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, where she was
one of the show’s regular players for over seven years, as well as her
various television projects and film appearances. Rudolph was most
recently seen in her well-received comic-variety show special “The Maya
Rudolph Show,” which aired on NBC on May 19th. The special was executive
produced by Lorne Michaels and debuted with 7.23 million viewers.
Rudolph can currently be heard voicing the role of Aunt Cass in the
highly anticipated animated feature “Big Hero 6.”
Rudolph previously starred in the critically acclaimed “The Way, Way
Back”; the film was the directorial debut of Oscar-winning writers Jim
Rash and Nat Faxon. It received rave reviews at the 2013 Sundance Film
Festival, and was released in July of 2013. The film went on the be
nominated for various awards and grossed $22 million at the domestic box
office. Rudolph also reunited with cast-mates Adam Sandler, Chris Rock,
Kevin James and David Spade in the family comedy “Grown Ups 2.”
As a master in the art of comedy, Rudolph starred in Paul Feig’s comedy
“Bridesmaids,” alongside Kristen Wiig, which has grossed nearly $300
million in the box office worldwide and garnered numerous accolades
since it opened May 13, 2011. In 2009, she earned rave reviews for her
performance opposite John Krasinski in the comedic and heartfelt film
“Away We Go,” directed by Sam Mendes from a script by Dave Eggers and
Vendela Vida, and in 2006 for her performance opposite Luke Wilson in
“Idiocracy,” written and directed by Mike Judge.
SASHA PIETERSE (Japonica Fenway) is a film and television star best
known for her lead role on ABC Family’s “Pretty Little Liars,” which is
now in its fifth season. She plays Alison DiLaurentis, the former queen
bee whose mysterious disappearance rocked the small suburban town where
she lived. In addition to her successful acting career, Pieterse has
launched her singing career, releasing four singles with co-writer and
producer Dan Franklin.
Pieterse got her start in television in 2002 at the age of six, starring
in The WB comedy series “Family Affair,” a remake of the late 1960s hit,
as Buffy, opposite Gary Cole. She was awarded with a Young Artist's
Award for her work on the series. She later reunited with Cole as his
daughter in the cable thriller “Wanted.”
Pieterse's first major film role was as the Ice Princess in Robert
Rodriguez’s “The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl 3D,” with Taylor
Lautner and George Lopez. She also starred in “Good Luck Chuck,” and in
the telefilm “Claire,” opposite Valerie Bertinelli. Pieterse appeared in
the hit series “Heroes,” in the recurring role of Amanda Strazzulla, a
young gypsy girl with fire powers. She guest starred in “House M.D.,” as
a terminal cancer patient who was terrified of dying without ever being
kissed, where Pieterse was put forward for a nomination for a daytime
Emmy. She also guest starred in “Without a Trace,” in a terrifying turn
as a kidnapping victim.
In 2011, she appeared as Amy Loubalu in the Disney Channel Original
Movie “Geek Charming,” and also as a teenage girl in the movie “X-Men:
First Class.” In 2007, she starred in a feature film alongside Sarah
Michelle Gellar, called “The Air I Breathe.” More recently, Pieterse has
appeared in the film “G.B.F.,” with one of the lead roles of Fawcett
Brooks; in an episode of “Hawaii Five-0” as a terrorist pupil named Dawn
Hatfield; and wrapped filming the feature “Burning Bodhi,” where she
stars alongside Virginia Madsen and Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting.
Pieterse, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and emigrated to
America for better opportunities. She landed in Las Vegas with her show
business parents before the family moved to Los Angeles. She became
accustomed to the rigors of a career in entertainment at an early age,
as her parents were a professional acrobatic dance team who performed
all over the world.
When she was just four-and-a-half years old, Pieterse met with a Los
Angeles agent who quickly signed her, and she has been acting and
modeling ever since. She has appeared in scores of television
commercials, on billboards and booked modeling assignments throughout
the country.
MICHAEL KENNETH WILLIAMS (Tariq Khalil) is one of television’s most
respected and acclaimed actors. By bringing complicated and charismatic
characters to life—often with surprising tenderness—Williams has
established himself as a gifted and versatile performer with a unique
ability to mesmerize audiences with his stunning character portrayals.
Williams is best known for his remarkable work on “The Wire,” which ran
for five seasons on HBO. The wit and humor that Williams brought to
Omar, the whistle-happy, profanity-averse, dealer-robbing stickup man,
earned him high praise and made Omar one of television’s most memorable
characters. For his work, Williams was nominated in 2009 for an NAACP
Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Williams co-starred in HBO’s critically acclaimed series “Boardwalk
Empire,” which premiered in 2010 and is currently in its last season. In
the Martin Scorsese-produced show, Williams plays Chalky White, a 1920s
bootlegger and impeccably suited veritable mayor of the Atlantic City’s
African-American community. In 2012, “Boardwalk Empire” won a Screen
Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama
Series. In 2014, Michael Kenneth Williams was nominated for a NAACP
Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in Drama Series for
“Boardwalk Empire.”
Williams continued to show his versatility by guest-starring in three
episodes of “Community,” an NBC comedy series. His other television
credits include “Law & Order,” “CSI,” “The Philanthropist” and “Boston
Legal.” He also had a recurring role on “The Sopranos” and J.J. Abrams’
“Alias.” He will next be seen starring along John Turturro in Steve
Zaillian’s series for HBO, “Criminal Justice.”
Williams made his feature film debut in the urban drama “Bullet,” after
being discovered by the late Tupac Shakur. He also appeared in “Bringing
Out the Dead,” which was directed by Martin Scorsese. His other film
work includes roles in “The Road”; “Gone Baby Gone”; “Life During
Wartime”; “I Think I Love My Wife”; “Wonderful World”; “Snitch,”
opposite Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon; “Robocop,” starring Joel
Kinnaman, Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton; and a supporting role in the
Academy Award-winning Steve McQueen film “12 Years A Slave,” with
Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt. Williams was most recently seen in
“Kill the Messenger,” opposite Jeremy Renner, and will next be seen in
the feature “Captive,” opposite Kate Mara and David Oyelowo. He will
also star opposite Queen Latifah in the HBO Film “Bessie,” and opposite
Mark Wahlberg in the remake of “The Gambler.”
Giving back to the community plays an important role in Williams’
off-camera life. He has established Making Kids Win, a charitable
organization whose primary objective is to build community centers in
urban neighborhoods that are in need of safe spaces for children to
learn and play. In 2014, Williams also became the ACLU’s Ambassador to
end mass incarceration.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Williams began his career as a
performer by dancing professionally at age 22. After numerous
appearances in music videos and as a background dancer on concert tours
for Madonna and George Michael, Williams decided to seriously pursue
acting. He participated in several productions of the La MaMa
Experimental Theatre, the prestigious National Black Theatre Company,
and the Theater for a New Generation, directed by Mel Williams.
Michael Kenneth Williams resides in Brooklyn, New York.
JEANNIE BERLIN (Aunt Reet) was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe
Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Elaine May’s “The
Heartbreak Kid,” opposite Charles Grodin and Cybill Shepherd. Her
additional feature film credits include “Vijay and I”; “Margaret”; “In
the Spirit,” which she also co-wrote; the title role in “Sheila Levine
is Dead and Living in New York”; “Bone”; “Portnoy’s Complaint”; “The
Baby Maker”; and “Getting Straight.”
On the small screen, she appeared in the series “Miss Match” and
“Columbo,” and in the TV movies “Two on a Bench and “In Name Only.”
Berlin has also appeared on Broadway, in “After the Night and the
Music.”
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About the Filmmakers
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Director
of "Inherent Vice", Mr. Paul Thomas Anderson introducign the 70mm premiere
in Paris, France at the L'Arlequin cinema. Image by Jean-Luc Peart
PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON (Director / Screenwriter / Producer) wrote and
directed “Hard Eight” (1996), “Boogie Nights” (1997), “Magnolia” (1999),
“Punch-Drunk Love” (2002), “There Will Be Blood” (2007) and
"The Master"
(2012).
THOMAS PYNCHON (Author) is the author of V.; The Crying of Lot 49;
Gravity’s Rainbow; Slow Learner, a collection of short stories;
Vineland; Mason & Dixon; Against the Day; Inherent Vice; and, most
recently, Bleeding Edge. He received the National Book Award for
Gravity’s Rainbow in 1974.
JOANNE SELLAR (Producer) has previously paired with Paul Thomas Anderson
on “Boogie Nights,” nominated for three Oscars; “Magnolia,” nominated
for three Oscars; “Punch-Drunk Love”; “There Will Be Blood,” which was
nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Film, and won Best Actor
(Daniel Day-Lewis) and Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit); and “The
Master,” which was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Actor
(Joaquin Phoenix), Best Supporting Actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and
Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams).
In addition, Sellar produced Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming’s
critically acclaimed “The Anniversary Party.” Her repertoire of feature
film producing credits began with the sci-fi thriller “Hardware.” She
went on to produce such films as Richard Stanley’s “Dust Devil,” George
Sluizer’s “Dark Blood,” and Clive Barker’s “Lord of Illusions.”
Prior to segueing to film, Sellar had a successful career producing
music videos for the likes of U2, Elvis Costello and Iggy Pop. Her
diverse experience also extends into television, where she co-produced
“Red, Hot, & Blue,” a worldwide tribute to Cole Porter benefiting AIDS
research. Her career began in the early `80s, programming a repertory
cinema in London called The Scala, which won acclaim for its diverse,
original and alternative film selections.
DANIEL LUPI (Producer) most recently executive produced Spike Jonzes’s
critically acclaimed, Oscar-winning film “Her,” starring Joaquin
Phoenix.
In 2012, he executive produced Steven Spielberg’s Oscar- and
BAFTA-nominated biographical drama “Lincoln,” after previously working
with Spielberg on “Catch Me If You Can.” He is currently executive
producing the director’s upcoming cold war thriller, due out in 2015.
He also collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson on the acclaimed drama
“The Master,” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix;
“There Will Be Blood,” which received a Best Picture Oscar nomination;
“Punch-Drunk Love”; “Magnolia”; “Boogie Nights”; and “Hard Eight.”
SCOTT RUDIN (Executive Producer) Films include “Top Five,” “While We’re
Young,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Captain Phillips,” “Inside Llewyn
Davis,” “Frances Ha,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Girl With the Dragon
Tattoo,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “Moneyball,” “Margaret,”
“The Social Network,” “True Grit,” “Greenberg,” “It’s Complicated,”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Julie & Julia,” “Doubt,” “No Country for Old Men,”
“There Will Be Blood,” “Reprise,” “The Queen,” “Margot at the Wedding,”
“Notes on a Scandal,” “Venus,” “Closer,” “Team America: World Police,”
“I Heart Huckabees,” “School of Rock,” “The Hours,” “Iris,” “The Royal
Tenenbaums,” “Zoolander,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Wonder Boys,” “Bringing Out
the Dead,” “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,” “The Truman Show,” “In
& Out,” “Ransom,” “The First Wives Club,” “Clueless,” “Nobody’s Fool,”
“The Firm,” “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” “Sister Act,” and “The Addams
Family.”
Theatre includes “Hamlet,” “Seven Guitars,” “A Funny Thing Happened on
the Way to the Forum,” “The Chairs,” “The Blue Room,” “Closer,” “Amy’s
View,” “Copenhagen,” “The Designated Mourner,” “The Goat, or Who Is
Sylvia?,” “Caroline, or Change,” “The Normal Heart,” “Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?,” “Doubt,” “Faith Healer,” “The History Boys,” “Shining
City,” “Stuff Happens,” “The Vertical Hour,” “The Year of Magical
Thinking,” “Gypsy,” “God of Carnage,” “Fences,” “The House of Blue
Leaves,” “Jerusalem,” “The Motherf**ker With the Hat,” “The Book of
Mormon,” “One Man, Two Guvnors,” “Death of a Salesman,” “The Testament
of Mary,” and “A Raisin in the Sun.”
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"Inherent
Vice" 70mm premiere in Paris, France at the L'Arlequin cinema. Image by
Jean-Luc Peart
ADAM SOMNER (Executive Producer) has amassed an impressive list of
feature film credits and worked with some of the industry’s most
respected directors, including a long collaboration with Ridley Scott,
working with him on eight films, including “1492: Conquest of Paradise,”
“White Squall,” “G.I. Jane,” “Gladiator,” “Hannibal,” “Black Hawk Down,”
“Kingdom of Heaven” and the upcoming “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” scheduled
for release this December. He also worked with Tony Scott three time
times, on the films “Unstoppable,” “Man on Fire” and “Spy Game.”
Somner most recently was the First A.D. and co-producer on Martin
Scorsese’s critically acclaimed, award-winning “The Wolf of Wall
Street.” “Inherent Vice” marks his third collaboration as first
assistant director with Paul Thomas Anderson, having previously worked
on Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” and “The Master,” the latter for
which Somner also served as executive producer.
He first worked with Steven Spielberg on the filmmaker’s third
installment in the “Indiana Jones” franchise, “Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade,” and has since served as First A.D. on Spielberg’s “War of
the Worlds,” “Munich,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull,” “The Adventures of Tintin,” which he also was an associate
producer, and “War Horse” and “Lincoln,” both of which he also
co-produced, and both of which were honored with Christopher Awards for
displaying the highest values of the human spirit. Somner is currently
set to executive produce and act as First A.D. on the director’s
upcoming cold war thriller, due out in 2015.
Somner’s additional feature film credits include Gore Verbinski’s
“Rango”; Robert Redford’s “Lions for Lambs”; Gary Ross’s “Seabiscuit”;
Richard Attenborough’s “Shadowlands”; and Stephen Sommer’s “The Mummy”
and “The Jungle Book.”
ROBERT ELSWIT (Director of Photography) won an Academy Award for Best
Cinematography for his work on Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be
Blood.” He also earned a BAFTA Award nomination and won several critics
associations’ awards for his cinematography on the film, including the
New York Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics Awards.
Elswit has collaborated with Anderson on several of the director’s
films, beginning with “Hard Eight,” and also including “Boogie Nights,”
“Magnolia” and “Punch-Drunk Love.”
Elswit earned his first Oscar nomination for his black-and-white
cinematography on George Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck.,” for
which he won an Independent Spirit Award, as well as the Los Angeles and
Boston Film Critics Awards. He also lensed the George Clooney starrers
“The Men Who Stare at Goats,” “Michael Clayton” and “Syriana.”
In addition to his work with Anderson, Elswit has worked repeatedly with
a number of directors on such projects as Gary Fleder’s “Runaway Jury”
and “Imposter”; “Redbelt” and “Heist,” with writer/director David Mamet;
Curtis Hanson’s “The River Wild,” “Bad Influence” and “The Hand That
Rocks the Cradle”; and “A Dangerous Woman,” “Waterland” and “Paris
Trout,” directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal.
Elswit’s long list of film credits also includes Dan Gilroy’s
“Nightcrawler,” Tony Gilroy’s “The Bourne Legacy,” Brad Bird’s “Mission:
Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” Joel Schumacher’s
“8MM,” the Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies,” Mike Newell’s “Amazing Grace
and Chuck,” and Rob Reiner’s “The Sure Thing.” In addition, he worked on
Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed Rolling Stones documentary “Shine a Light.”
DAVID CRANK (Production Designer) previously teamed up with Paul Thomas
Anderson as co-production designer on “The Master.” Currently, he is
working on Peter Landesman’s project starring Will Smith. He also
recently designed “The Double,” starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia
Wasikowska, directed by Richard Ayoade.
As an art director, Crank has worked with some of today’s most talented
filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg and Terrence Malick. With Crank’s
involvement, the series “John Adams” on HBO won an Emmy Award for
Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie, as well as an Art
Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design. In addition,
Crank’s work contributed to the Art Directors Guild Award for Spielber’s
“Lincoln,” and an Art Directors Guild Award win for Anderson’s “There
Will Be Blood.” Crank’s other art direction credits include “To the
Wonder,” “Water for Elephants,” “The Tree of Life” and “The New World.”
Crank received his bachelor’s degree at The College of William & Mary in
1982, and in 1984 graduated from Carnegie-Mellon with a Masters in Fine
Arts.
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DP70
70mm projector showing "Inherent Vice"
LESLIE JONES (Editor) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film
Editing for Terrence Malick’s acclaimed war epic “The Thin Red Line.”
She was also nominated twice for the American Cinema Editors Eddie
Award, for “The Thin Red Line” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch-Drunk
Love.”
She more recently collaborated with Anderson on “The Master,” starring
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams.
Her work with director Todd Phillips includes “School for Scoundrels”
and “Starsky & “Hutch,” starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. She also
edited Paul Weitz’s comedy “Little Fockers,” starring with Robert De
Niro and Ben Stiller, as well as his sci-fi film “Cirque du Freak: The
Vampire’s Assistant,” starring John C. Reilly.
Jones’s other film credits include “The Words,” starring Bradley Cooper;
Roman Coppola’s comedy “CQ,” starring Jeremy Davies and Gerard
Depardieu; Fina Torres’ romantic comedy “Woman on Top,” starring
Penelope Cruz; and Dwight Little’s thriller “Murder at 1600,” starring
Wesley Snipes and Diane Lane.
MARK BRIDGES (Costume Designer) was born and raised in Niagara Falls,
New York, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Arts from
Stony Brook University. He then worked at the legendary Barbara Matera
Costumes in New York City as a shopper for a wide range of Broadway,
dance and film projects. Following his time at Matera's, Mark studied
for three years at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and
received a Master of Fine Arts degree in costume design. After New York
University, Mark began working in film whenever possible and was
assistant costume designer on the film “In the Spirit” with Marlo Thomas
and Elaine May and design assistant to Colleen Atwood on the Jonathon
Demme film “Married to the Mob.”
In 1988, Mark worked as design assistant for designer Richard Hornung on
the film “Miller's Crossing,” a collaboration that would continue for
eight more films. In 1989, Mark relocated to Los Angeles to be assistant
costume designer to Richard Hornung on “The Grifters,” “Barton Fink,”
“Doc Hollywood,” “Hero,” “Dave,” “The Hudsucker Proxy,” “Natural Born
Killers,” and “Nixon.”
In 1995, Mark began his costume design collaboration with Paul Thomas
Anderson, designing “Hard Eight.” Their next work together was on the
critically acclaimed “Boogie Nights,” followed by “Magnolia,”
“Punch-Drunk Love” and “There Will Be Blood” starring Daniel Day Lewis.
Mark also designed “The Master” starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour
Hoffman and Amy Adams.
Mark won an Academy Award, a BAFTA award and in 2012, for his costume
design for the popular 2011 silent film, Best Picture Academy Award
winner “The Artist,” for director Michel Hazanavicius. Other work
includes “The Fighter” for director David O. Russell, starring Mark
Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams, “Greenberg,” starring Ben
Stiller, for director Noah Baumbach, “Yes Man,” starring Jim Carrey,
“Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus” starring Nicole Kidman and
Robert Downey Jr., “Be Cool” with John Travolta, “I Heart Huckabees”
with Dustin Hoffman and Isabel Huppert, “The Italian Job” starring Mark
Wahlberg and Charlize Theron, “8 Mile” starring Eminem, “Blow” starring
Johnny Depp, “Deep Blue Sea,” “Blast From the Past ” and “Can't Hardly
Wait.” Mark also designed “Captain Phillips” starring Tom Hanks for
director Paul Greengrass. Most recently Mark has designed the costumes
for the film adaptation of the bestselling novel Fifty Shades of Grey
for director Sam Taylor-Johnson, starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie
Dornan.
Bridges' costume designs will be part of the Hollywood Costume exhibit
at the Victoria and Albert museum in London England in the fall of 2012.
Mark’s designs were also part of the 1998 Biennale di Firenze
Fashion/Cinema exhibit and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences exhibit Fifty Designers, Fifty Costumes: Concept to Character
shown in Los Angeles and Tokyo in 2002. Mark was also one of the film
artists included in “On Otto,” an installation at the Fondazione Prada
in Milan, in summer 2007.
Mark’s career and design work is included in the new Costume Design book
in the Film Craft series by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. Bridges' design
work has appeared in publications as diverse as Australian Harper's
Bazaar, Vogue, The New York Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Dressing in
the Dark by Marion Maneker, and Dressed: 100 Years of Cinema Costume by
Deborah Nadoolman Landis.
JONNY GREENWOOD (Music Score) is a member of the acclaimed alternative
rock band Radiohead. Greenwood serves mainly as lead guitarist and
keyboard player but also plays viola, xylophone, glockenspiel, ondes
martenot, banjo, harmonica and drums. He also works on the electronic
side of Radiohead, working on computer-generated sounds and sampling.
His film score credits include Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” and
“There Will Be Blood,” Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” and
Tran Anh Hung’s “Norwegian Wood.”
In addition, he has served as the Composer in Residence for the BBC
Concert Orchestra.
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Go: back - top - back issues - news index Updated
28-07-24 |
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