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Tallies with other info. The company they've set up for the film is called Phantom Thread (registered with Companies House) and ARG (a London talent agency) has that name connected to Anderson on the online CVs of Lesley Manville and Richard Graham, who apparently have roles in it.

Oooooh, I love Lesley Manville

The actress in those Whitby Gazette pictures is Vicky Krieps.

If it is about Charles James, he worked his entire career in America, no? So I wonder if Krieps and Manville, considering they bear some resemblance to one another, are playing the same character at different points in time (Krieps younger in Britain, Manville later in New York).

He worked in Chicago (where his mother was from) and New York between 1926-1929, but was not a huge success. He worked in London throughout the '30s, then moved back to New York in 1939, and really made his name in the early '50s.

If Anderson has had any consistent throughline in his career (outside of Inherent Vice since it was a direct adaptation), it's been taking the skeleton from either existing material/characters and using it as a springboard for his own original material:

- Hard Eight: Philip Baker Hall's persona as a friend of his father's, his own experiences in casinos
- Boogie Nights: John Holmes
- Magnolia: His father's death from cancer, beau Fiona Apple's treatment as a "child star"
- Punch-Drunk Love: The Sandler persona from his filmography to that point
- There Will Be Blood: Oil!
- The Master: L. Ron Hubbard

And I'm sure this will be no different. So the specific details of when and where Charles James worked feel beside the point if his life was only a catalyst for the screenplay, and/or a contributing bit of texture for an original work.

Don't forget the Healthy Choice pudding guy was a real story too!

So is Anderson acting as his own DP here?

Foam wrote:So is Anderson acting as his own DP here?

Yes, according to all reports thusfar

domino harvey wrote:Don't forget the Healthy Choice pudding guy was a real story too!

This is where Anderson earned my everlasting love and respect. It takes a unique eye to think that something so mundane is cinematic. Waiting for him to make a movie out of the time I bought sorta mispriced B1G1 $6.99 24 season sets from Best Buy and returned them without receipt for $600+ in Borders gift cards (at a cost to me of under $50). Also, I would like to apologize to Borders for their company going under shortly thereafter

He's just laying the groundwork for his next film, about a director who acts as his own DP while filming a movie about 50s fashion

domino harvey wrote:He's just laying the groundwork for his next film, about a director who acts as his own DP while filming a movie about 50s fashion

Yeah but he just uses that for the first third, but then his wholly original character fucks a famous harpist and obliterates Alejandro González Iñárritu with a bowling pin

I think I've heard about this project, it's called the Aristocrats

That was the best Disney film!

mfunk9786 wrote:- Magnolia: His father's death from cancer, beau Fiona Apple's treatment as a "child star"

Think you meant to write bae here.

Really hope he goes back to the wider format for this one. Not just for my general preference but he's been able to do some unique things in the 2.35 AR that always drew me in. That felt missing from his last two films, for me.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Really hope he goes back to the wider format for this one. Not just for my general preference but he's been able to do some unique things in the 2.35 AR that always drew me in. That felt missing from his last two films, for me.

Take it with the usual pinch of salt, but the IMDB says it's being shot 35mm anamorphic with 35mm and 70mm release prints intended.

I hope it's in 1.19:1, myself

mfunk9786 wrote:- Magnolia: His father's death from cancer, beau Fiona Apple's treatment as a "child star"

Don't forget the writings of Charles Fort.

There's no news about this specifically (or new news of any kind on this film, sadly...), but this seems to be listed as Phantom Thread just about everywhere now. IMDB, Wikipedia, Google... would not be surprised if Phantom Thread is indeed our title.

After seeing the title as the subject line, I couldn't help but genuinely assume that PT was clued into our enclave and that it was going to be a film about the daily dramas of that other phantom thread.

domino harvey wrote:This will be DDL's final film before retiring

That's one way to ensure an Oscar (and possibly one for PTA, too)