Paul Thomas Anderson and Richard Linklater are two of the most beloved filmmakers of their generation, especially among cinephiles. But rarely does the opportunity come around for these two powerhouses of cinema to collide in as public and in-depth a manner as their recent appearance together at the Austin Film Society’s 2018 Texas Film Awards.
READ MORE: The Essentials: 10 Best Jonathan Demme Films
The organization, co-founded by Linklater, honored Anderson with its first-ever Jonathan Demme Award for his contributions to cinema, including modern classics like “There Will Be Blood” and “Boogie Nights.” For more than a half-hour, the pair discussed Anderson’s career as well as their shared history with Demme. The director — best known for Oscar-winning films like “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia” — passed away in April 2017 of complications with esophageal cancer and heart disease.
“You imagine [Demme] being a pinball in a pinball machine, the way that he’s ricocheted around here through the course of his life and the branches that have grown off of these things that he’s done,” Anderson said about the filmmaker’s versatility. “He’s my hero. That was the person I looked at. If I could make my films, I want to make them look like that, sound like that, everything.”
Anderson then shared that he received the news of Demme’s passing on the set of “Phantom Thread” during the last shot, and he and Linklater detail their relationship with their fallen friend and colleague. Anderson also described his Indian-music excursion documentary “Junun” with Jonny Greenwood as “my Jonathan Demme movie,” modeled after the late filmmaker’s live music docs like “Stop Making Sense,” and “Neil Young: Heart Of Gold.”
It’s a beautifully frank conversation between two filmmakers at the top of their game and lends viewers a nice behind-the-scenes at their respective processes as well as one of their biggest mutual influences.
Between the two of them, Linklater and Anderson are responsible for some of the most critically lauded films of the last decade, and the chance to see them in conversation is certainly one not to be missed by any fan of either filmmaker. Check out the full video below.
Also, for shits and giggles, here’s a great 30-minute talk about “Phantom Thread” that we never covered which is also worth the listen.