No one can deny that Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the best directors of our generation, with him famously sharing a mutual admiration with the great Quentin Tarantino. And now, another Hollywood A-lister cites Anderson as one of the greats, with Ben Affleck admitting to THR that Anderson is his favorite director of all time, so much so that he showed him an early cut of his new movie Air for feedback. “He knows I really look up to him. And he was like, “This is just a fun movie. I like this movie.” And I’m thinking, “Is it a masterpiece?” Because I think he really is a genius. This guy knows how to do this.”
Affleck also admits a slight amount of jealousy, comparing himself to Antonio Salieri, who Amadeus fans may remember as Mozart’s murderously jealous fellow composer. Affleck jokingly admits that comment might lead to a bit of clickbait (sorry), but it’s always interesting to read what kind of movies a guy like Affleck, who’s earning his best reviews since Argo for Air, watches in his downtime. It’s a surprise the two haven’t worked together before.
Like many of the greats, Anderson likes to take his time between projects, but rumour has it he’s about to helm another Thomas Pynchon adaptation following his divisive Inherent Vice (I liked it), with him tackling Vineland. As for Ben Affleck, Air played to raves at SXSW, and many are saying that his film about Nike’s efforts to sign Michael Jordan is a throwback to the kind of movie he excels at – a character-driven ensemble with a big heart. Stars Matt Damon, Viola Davis and Affleck himself are all getting (early) Oscar buzz, and it’s unique that Amazon is opting to give this a spring release, with them apparently sold on its box office prospects as counter-programming to Super Mario Bros. It’s definitely high on my list of must-see movies.