Paul Thomas Anderson’s New Film to Take Us Back to High School

After primarily making music videos for the past two years, Paul Thomas Anderson is returning to the feature-length format, and he’s taking it back to high school to do so, as THR reports.

Anderson’s untitled new project is set in the ‘70s and will revolve around a high school student who’s also a successful child actor. Casting is apparently already underway to find the lead, and the project will feature a variety of roles that have intersecting storylines, making it similar to the ensemble cast in Anderson’s epic Magnolia.

The film will be set in California’s San Fernando Valley, where Anderson grew up. This northern part of Los Angeles also served as the landscape for his notable films Boogie Nights (1997), the aforementioned Magnolia (1999) and Punch Drunk Love (2002). Anderson will write, direct and produce the film, the first for him since 2017’s Phantom Thread, which marked the first time he produced a film outside of the U.S. Phantom Thread garnered six Oscar nominations, winning for costume design, and was also Daniel Day-Lewis’ final role before his retirement. Production on this new Anderson project will be done through his own Ghoulradi Film Company.

Anderson’s most recently released work includes the snappy video for Haim’s song “Now I’m in it” and the surreal short film Anima that accompanied Thom York’s album of the same name.

Production on Anderson’s next project is slated to start in February 2020.