Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks: A Filmmaker’s Creative Journey [9781419744679]

Overview

“A master class of the masterworks of Paul Thomas Anderson” (Variety), Adam Nayman’s full-color coffee-table book explores the creative journey of the multiple Academy Award–winning writer and director.

Foreword by the Safdie Brothers. “Full of lavish photographs from his best-loved films.” —A. Frame

Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks is a fact-filled treasure-trove for movie fans. It explores Anderson’s career, including the critically acclaimed, award-winning movies Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007), The Master (2012), Inherent Vice (2014), Phantom Thread (2017), and Licorice Pizza (2021).

This gorgeous book also covers his music videos for Radiohead and his early short films. Anderson’s influences; his style; and the recurring themes of alienation, reinvention, ambition, and destiny that course through his movies are analyzed and supplemented by firsthand interviews with his closest collaborators—and illuminated by film stills, archival photos, original illustrations, and an appropriately psychedelic design aesthetic.

Anderson has been described as “one of American film’s modern masters” and “the foremost filmmaking talent of his generation.” He continues to define American cinema's modern masters; his brilliant epic One Battle After Another earned awards including Best Picture and Best Director at the 2026 Academy Awards.

Film critics and fans are constantly looking forward to what he might create next and discuss the meaning and technical aspects of his movies and their most famous scenes. Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights, Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will be Blood, and Joaquin Phoenix in The Master are not just memorable movie performances, they are the stuff of Hollywood legend.

Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks is a tribute to the dreamers, drifters, and evil dentists who populate his world.