Phantom Threadisnt just a reunion between Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis, 10 years afterThere Will Be Blood.
Paul and I have been very good friends for 20 years, since we started working together.
So I feel like I didnt exactly go away Paul and I have been in touch the whole time.
Laurie Sparham/Focus Features
He wanted to make a story about a couple whose relationship was the most combative thing.
That was the original idea.
So we started talking aboutRebeccaandNotorious.
It percolated with him for a while.
I dont think anybody could have guessed where it was going to go based on the first conversation.
Often, editing has a lot to do with that.
Theres so Blake Edwards kind of stuff we tried to do.
Theres a lot of winking going on.
While the subject matter, everyone feels very earnest about, its not without its winks.
Editing a Daniel Day-Lewis performance is like editing a Reynolds Woodcock performance.
Its a matter of picking and choosing the moments, but theyre all pretty real.
Its sort of like lets keep within these lines and thats the character.
Sometimes Daniel is painting a little outside, but hes always Reynolds, morning through night.
Its a different experience in a way.
I just feel extra grateful to have such material to work with, he says.
What parts of Reynolds Woodcock do we highlight and what parts do we obscure.
We tried to ensure Reynolds wasnt too hard-ass.
That he wasnt too indecipherable.
We wanted people to understand why Alma wanted to be with someone this fastidious.
That was definitely the line we excavated on this project.
How do we thread that needle, as it were.
Im appalled I just used one.
