Paul Thomas Anderson quotes

Born
June 26, 1970, Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Occupation
Director.

Paul Thomas Anderson is an American director.

Movies
Boogie Nights (1997)
Magnolia (1999)
Phantom Thread (2017)
There Will Be Blood (2007)

Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

You know, I’m really not that competent at describing things musically.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I am always looking for that nuance, that moment of truth, and you can’t really do that fast.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

The films that I love are very straightforward stories, like really old-fashioned stuff.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

To make a film, the final big collaborator that you have is the composer.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I’m not really a Sundance baby, but they helped me so much I feel I have to acknowledge it.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I actually enjoyed the struggles that we had trying to shape ‘Blood’, to get the pacing right, the rhythm of it.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I always had a dream about trying to make a movie that had no dialogue in it, that was just music and pictures. I still haven’t done it yet, but I tried to get close in the beginning.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

No matter how many times you do it, you don’t get used to the sadness – for me at least – of coming to the end of a film.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

It’s a gamble you take, the risk of alienating an audience. But there’s a theory – sometimes it’s better to confuse them for five minutes than let them get ahead of you for 10 seconds.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that every time you go to make a film, you’re desperate to either do it better than you did it last time or to not repeat yourself.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I write from my stomach.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

There’s a lot for screenwriters to steal from songwriters, in terms of getting to the point.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

My older sister was at the cusp of new wave, and I had older brothers from my father’s first marriage who were rock ‘n’ roll guys, so I was exposed to a lot of popular culture.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

No, really. Just do it. You have some kind of weird reasons that are okay.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I’ve never been a fan of whimsical or confusing storytelling.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

Crazy is so hard to play, there’s nothing you can really tell an actor.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I don’t want to be the angry guy.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I didn’t have any desire I might have had 10 years ago to shoot every single word that I wrote.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I think my job is to try and be as honest as I can with what is in my mind and how I feel – I think that’s what you’re supposed to do, if you’re a good writer. So I try to do that. I know I do that. I do do that.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I don’t think it’s a director’s job to peek behind the curtain too much.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I had never read Upton Sinclair. I didn’t read ‘The Jungle’ in high school or anything like that. But it’s pretty terrific writing.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I’ll rebel against powers and principalities, all the time. Always, I will.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

Acting is the hardest job in the entire world. By far. Harder than ditch digging.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

Well I’d really love to work with Robert De Niro, because he’s still the most talented actor out there.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

My writing has a lot to do with who I am, and what my life is like, and my relationships to people.
– Paul Thomas Anderson

I’m completely aware of the fact that I’m a control freak.
– Paul Thomas Anderson