"The Master" has the aura of a master, charming and inexplicable, Anderson shows an outstanding ability to control the role, and the performances of the two male protagonists are superb.
——"The Hollywood Reporter"
Joaquin Phoenix's performance is full of magical charm, playing a soul on the brink of collapse.
——"Variety"
This is a remarkable masterpiece by Paul Thomas Anderson, with delicate characters and rich details. And Joaquin Phoenix also delivered the most perfect performance of his personal career in the film.
——"The Hollywood Reporter"
At the beginning, we will feel that the multiple elements in the film seem familiar. However, even so, he played with these elements in a new way.
——"Chicagoman"
Although Anderson has told the story in this film several times, he still used great courage and enthusiasm to tell the story this time. In drama, Emotionally, cinematically, and expressively perfect.
——indieWIRE
"Master" may not have the dramatic style of "Blood Will Come", but it is still wonderful, exciting, and full of different powers in many moments.
——"Screen Daily" behind-the-
scenes production
The controversial subject of Scientology has attracted much attention
. Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA) established his status as a movie ghost with "Boogie Nights" and "There Will Be Blood". This time, "The Master" takes a look at the theme ---Scientology, which aroused everyone's interest. The film tells the story of a religious master and a troubled believer. There are many believers in Scientology in Hollywood, and Tom is the most famous representative. It was rumored that this film made Tom angry. In this regard, PT A clarified at the meeting, "I showed Tom Cruise this film, and we are still good friends."
In fact, after watching the film, the audience will find that the film is more about the healing of human nature after World War II. Even though the "Master" played by Hoffman has countless followers, the situation of each family's miscarriages makes people feel a little pity for him. The young and beautiful wife shows her evil side from time to time, the daughter molested Joaquin after marriage, the son-in-law provokes the relationship between Joaquin and the master behind his back, but the son is a coward who dares not do anything... Therefore, Hoffman and Joaquin trust The relationship is even more precious, and it is not necessarily who is the master. Interestingly, the director used "Love Story" to describe the film, "It is not so much that Joaquin's character finds support through faith in the master, it is better that the master desires to be as heartless and unrestrained as Joaquin." The character setting, "Love Story" makes people more or less fanciful.
Joaquin's "performance that defines his acting career" is
not a prolific PTA, and the "Master" brought by this time is quite satisfactory. The rhythm of the film's story is exciting, the tone is dark, the story often jumps between realism and drama, there is a kind of pleasure of being abused but enjoying. The soundtrack of the film is also excellent. The background music made by Johnny Greenwood, a member of the British rock band radiohead, closely fits the mood the film is trying to convey, and it raises the mood of the audience time and time again.
But the biggest surprise of the film is the two great actors. Hoffman has cooperated with PT A three times, and the tacit understanding has already existed, so it is not surprising that the performance is brilliant. The most amazing is Joaquin's performance, "The Hollywood Reporter" praised Joaquin with "a career-defining performance". In the film, Joaquin changed his strong-backed appearance and turned into a retired Navy soldier who shrugged his shoulders. This character is irritable and irritable, and the director appreciates Joaquin's performance very much. He shared an example of Joaquin's acting outburst: in the film, Joaquin was arrested and imprisoned. It was a real ceramic flush toilet, and after the filming, the prison management was mad because it was not easy for them to rebuild a toilet in the same place, which also meant that this scene of Joaquin could only be done once.
irrespective of religion
Although Paul Thomas Anderson himself did not express it explicitly, his collaborators revealed that the film "The Master" has been in Anderson's mind for 12 years. The idea to make The Master first came from a series of reports that Anderson stumbled across. That report was about the religious fanaticism that once took place on American soil. And with this as a starting point, Anderson began to write the script for the film. Although he didn't know what story he wanted, Anderson couldn't stop writing together. In the process of writing the script, Anderson kept showing the script he had written to his good friend Philip Seymour Hoffman, and got a lot of important feedback from him. According to his feedback, Anderson revised the script again. The story of the film comes partly from the story of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Christian Science Society, and partly from the famous American writer John Steinbeck. More, from the unfilmed scripts of "Blood Down" and "Magnolia". Because the background of the film is set after World War II, in Anderson's view, the film is just a story about the return of World War II veterans to American society.
Anderson said: "This is a World War II film. Although there are no war scenes, it is still a World War II film. I don't want to make a biographical film of anyone, and I don't want to make myself unhappy because of religion. Although the protagonist of the film It was indeed inspired by Ron Hubbard's story, but this film has nothing to do with Ron Hubbard's biopic." The word World War II film comes from the time background of the film. If you look at the plot of the film, this film is The movie seems to be an "emotional movie". Anderson said: "The protagonists of the film are two men, a doctrinal savior and a laboratory mouse. Between these two soul-like people, there is a relationship of rescue and rescue. This film, about It's the relationship between them. They were born the same person, with a beast in their hearts, just one who learned how to control it and passed it on to the world."
Funding and Actors
When the film first broke the news in December 2009, Anderson was still anxiously seeking funding for the film. Despite having a good book, Anderson's own name, and the lead role of Philip Seymour Hoffman, which was confirmed earlier, the $35 million cost was prohibitive for many studios. Moreover, because of the sensitivity of the subject matter, the Weinstein Company, which has always liked such niche films, hesitated. And so Anderson's film was delayed until February 2011, when Megan Ellison, daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison, paid for the film to settle Anderson's Urgent. Not only that, but she also provided funding for Anderson's next film, Inherently Flawed. In return, Anderson's two films were branded with the logo of Meghan's new company, Annapurna Pictures. Seeing that the film was funded, the wily Weinstein came forward again and got the distribution rights for the film in North America.
The film has a great cast, or rather, this great cast makes this movie. For this, Anderson said: "I am very satisfied. Philip Seymour Hoffman has long been the star in my mind, because when I created this character, I wrote it in my mind based on him. As for the other An actor, we looked for a lot of great actors and finally found Joaquin Phoenix. I've approached him a few times before, hoping he'd be in my previous films, but he'd turned them down. This time, I didn't I was overjoyed to think he would be in this movie, and I was overjoyed that this guy would say yes. Joaquin's performance was so engaged and perfect. He's the type of actor who is so focused on the movie and the character, once When he enters the play, he can give you a perfect, shocking and impeccable performance. As long as he becomes a character, he will live as a character for three whole months. During these three months, he is indistinguishable. The performances of the other actors are also very satisfying, you know, this is a group drama film, if there is a problem in any part, the whole film will be finished."
The film is inspired by "Scientology" (Scientology, also known as the Christian Science Society), and Philip Seymour Hoffman's character prototype is the founder of the organization, Ron Hubbard. Ron Hubbard was seriously injured in World War II, and he did not receive psychological treatment in time. He has since developed a sense of mistrust in psychological counseling. After the war, he made a living by writing novels. In 1950, Hubbard created a work called "Dianetics", combining psychological knowledge with modern metaphysics, and on this basis established Scientology. He believes that memory is a painful and unconscious impression from the past that can cause painful diseases and even induce crime. To eliminate these negative memories, Hubbard uses a "memory meter" that allows people to recall all their past misfortunes, and then their emotions will gradually stabilize.
FUN FACTS
This is Paul Thomas Anderson's first film not shot by Robert Eswat. When the film started shooting, Robert Eswat was filming "The Bourne Bourne 4"
. This is the first film in 16 years to be shot entirely with 65mm film. This film allows the image to be extended to 70mm film in post using a special processing process. The equipment used by the crew is a 65mm camera developed by Panavision. The last film to be made entirely on 65/70mm film was Kenneth Branagh's 4-hour blockbuster Hamlet in 1996.
Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone were both cast as Elizabeth, a character in the film.
· Reese Witherspoon was once a candidate to play Mary Sue, but withdrew from the set due to production schedule problems. Later, the role was handed over to Amy Adams.
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