Paul Thomas Anderson

“I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film's abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y'know, that's great. But I h...”

“You have to be a brat in order to carve out your parameters, and you have to be a monster to anyone who gets in your way. But sometimes it's difficult to know when that's necessary and when...”

“To make a film, the final big collaborator that you have is the composer.”

“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.”

“Acting is the hardest job in the entire world. By far. Harder than ditch digging.”

“Of course, I'm no dummy.”

“Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.”

“I actually enjoyed the struggles that we had trying to shape 'Blood', to get the pacing right, the rhythm of it.”

“I don't think it's a director's job to peek behind the curtain too much.”

“Well I'd really love to work with Robert De Niro, because he's still the most talented actor out there.”

“I didn't have any desire I might have had 10 years ago to shoot every single word that I wrote.”

“I'm not really a Sundance baby, but they helped me so much I feel I have to acknowledge it.”

“My dad was this sort of avant-garde guy who did all kinds of weird things. He was a true original and anybody who met him never forgot him.”

“I've never been a fan of whimsical or confusing storytelling.”