Paul Thomas Anderson, the auteur director behind Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Phantom Thread, is moving to MGM for his next film. Deadline is reporting that the director’s next feature is currently having its deal ironed out, with production not yet starting after a COVID-19 related delay.
Anderson’s previous film, Phantom Thread, was distributed by Focus Features on a budget of $35 million. It was nominated for multiple Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won for Best Costume Design. The plan was for Focus Features to release the director’s next film, too, but this will no longer be the case.
Deadline reports that the move to MGM is not contentious. Universal, the parent company of Focus Features, will likely still be involved, as they have previously helped with distribution on MGM titles (including upcoming Bond title No Time To Die).
Anderson’s next film does not have a title set yet. It will be set in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s, and will be about a child actor. Casting has not been announced, and details are pretty vague right now.
Anderson is famous for his collaborations with actors–Daniel Day-Lewis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Joaquin Phoenix have all been acclaimed for the work they’ve done with the director in leading roles. Until 2019’s Uncut Gems, Adam Sandler’s most famously “good” performance was in Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love, a movie that taps into the comedian’s boiling inner turmoil.
