“He doesn’t meet people, I don’t know if he even exists,” Paul Thomas Anderson told The Guardian about Thomas Pynchon, author of "Inherent Vice," perhaps with tongue firmly in cheek. Ever since Josh Brolin said in early interviews that the reclusive author had visited the set of the film, Anderson has politely ducked confirming or denying the writer’s involvement with the picture.
"I just try to work with the book, you know, and to treat the book as a collaborator,” he elaborated. "…that’s like those stories about B Traven [the mysterious author of ‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre‘]. No one ever knew who Traven was, and these pages would supposedly appear under [the director] John Huston’s door with notes and stuff. Or they’d be on the set and look over and there’d be a guy with a hat and sunglasses, and they’d all be going, ‘Is that B Traven? Is that him?’ So it’s all very mysterious to talk about Pynchon, but I tread delicately because he doesn’t want anything to do with all this, and I just have so much respect for him. I hope I can be like him when I grow up.”
Humble words from the filmmaker who by most accounts has delivered a movie Pynchon would be proud of. And with the film going into wide release on Friday, Paul Thomas Anderson is rounding up the last of his press commitments, and has delivered a whopper: a two-hour conversation with Marc Maron (via The Film Stage). And you’ll want to give it a listen. Among other things, PTA admits that "Magnolia" is "way too fucking long” and "it’s unmerciful how long it is," his thoughts on the Oscar ceremony, and much more.
Meanwhile, he also participated in an Academy Conversation last month about the movie along with costume designer Mark Bridges, editor Leslie Jones and producers Daniel Lupi and JoAnne Sellar. And buzzed-about actress Katherine Waterston stopped by CBC‘s "Q" for a chat as well.
Check it all out below kicking off with the Canadian TV spot for the film. "Inherent Vice" gets on the case on January 9th.
