Magnolia: The Shooting Script

Ok, I apologize that this is refraining from the topic at hand, but never have I been this outraged at the academy awards. For credibility, I am an aspiring filmmaker/screenwriter and I study a lot of films and screenplay. I really enjoyed American Beauty, and then I read the screenplay. I was disappointed and saw this film (American Beauty) was saved from being simply awful from a great director, cinematographer, and cast/crew. It was a very flawed script that had moments of terrible dialogue and little character development. Don't believe me? Think about how there is not a single likable moment for Annette Benning. Even Freddy Kruegger had a few moments of likability.And then there was Magnolia...I saw this film and I was literally blown away. I read the screenplay 5 times in the week I got it. The film had great dialogue, wonderful development, and great characters. It was simply beautiful. When I saw it, I hailed it as the best film of the year, the 90's, and quite possibly ever. In the unlikable side, You have Frank TJ Mackey, perfectly portrayed by Tom Cruise. Frank is a sex guru who teaches courses on how to pick up women. Not your hero, right? Slimeball? You bet. But he's a person. How about the dying father who left his wife who was dying to have sex with other women... He realizes that what he has done was terrible, and he didn't ask for forgiveness, he just realizes that tey were mistakes and he has to live with them. Ok, so the point is, as with all of Anderson's characters, that as much as you don't like someone's behavior or lifestyle or whatever, they are just people too. And that is the mark of a truly gifted and beautiful writer. Thank you Paul Thomas Anderson, for making the best cinematic memory for me.

When, in the future, film and literature students study the masterpiece "Magnolia" they will need to have two products at their sides: Aimee Mann's Magnolia CD and Magnolia: The Shooting Script. The Shooting Script, published with great polish in both hardback and in a quality oversized paperback format, enhances the experience of having seem the film (no modest accomplishment). By including material not in the finished film product, as well as personal comments from the skilled young director/screenwriter P.T. Anderson, all serious students of film and 20th century American literature should add this volume to their library.

Magnolia: The Shooting Script offers insight into the imagination of film maker Paul Anderson and shows how he translated his ideas into a cohesive film. In addition to the complete shooting script, Magnolia includes an informative introduction by Anderson, an extensive interview conducted by Chuck Stephens with the writer-director, a full-color section of more than 40 photographs, as well as complete cast and crew credits. Magnolia is will prove a highly prized acquisition for film buffs and for film school libraries.

"Magnolia" is a film that should go down in history. And for the mere reason of Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson's brilliant screenwriting is seen the best through his characters. By this talent the piece truly is an ensemble film, for no character outshines the next. Linda Partridge and Claudia Gator, my personal favorite characters, go through the gamut of emotions throughout the script, while likewise staying true to their original motives and feelings. Basically, the thing that makes Anderson's characters real is that they ARE real. They are normal people whose lives have, along the lines, come apart at every possible seam. No people live absolutely perfect, happy lives, and this is what Anderson gets across. Many of the characters in the script on first look seem invincible, strong, glorified, and beautiful. It does not take long for the reader to see, though, that the most perfect people have the weakest constitutions and strength.The film is superb. The actors and actresses Anderson used were the ones that could get the job done, not just the big names (okay, despite Tom Cruise and maybe Julianne Moore) that would pull in the crowds. Anderson's direction is also brilliant, for you see that he and his script pulled every ounce of his characters out of his cast.Anderson is somewhat like the Mel Brooks of the modern, dramatic realm of film. He writes his scripts, does the directing, and he uses the actors and actresses that he knows will deliver. Many of the castmates in Magnolia also appeared in Boogie Nights, and some even in the earlier Anderson film, Hard Eight. He...in truth...is brilliant, and this script is his best one yet I think. My fingers are crossed for him at the Academy Awards this March for his Screenplay nomination, but I'm only upset that no more than three people (Anderson, Aimee Mann, & Cruise) were recognized by the Academy for their amazing performances in the film (especially Melora Walters).And the bottom line...Anderson is pure brilliance and is one of the next great film makers of our time, and I cannot wait to continue following his career.

Luckily for me, Paul Thomas Anderson dropped by my favorite bookstore to sign copies of this publication a few days ago. I got a chance to shake the man's hand and tell him what an incredible influence he was on me wanting to write and direct my own films. "Magnolia : The Illustrated Screenplay" has to be the BEST published screenplay EVER. Not only do you get the actual shooting script (as opposed to those cheesy transcriptions of finished movies) but you also get a lengthy, fascinating interview with Anderson as well as a bunch of full color photographs taken behind the scenes of the shoot. But, of course, the best part of the book is the actual writing itself. This screenplay reads more like a complex and quite brilliant novel. As you read, you will undoubtedly be struck with genuine awe at just how Anderson managed to jump back and forth so many times between so many different, multi-layered storylines while still preserving a coherent narrative under the umbrella of a singular underlying theme: redemption. Although he'd be the first to deny it, the man's quite simply a genius.