Production History (Magnolia) Magnolia
Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed Magnolia at twenty-eight, coming off the critical and commercial success of Boogie Nights (1997). The film grew from a planned intimate character study into a 188-minute ensemble epic with nine interwoven storylines, shot over ninety days in the San Fernando Valley.
Anderson conceived the film during Boogie Nights post-production
Anderson began jotting down ideas for his next project while still editing Boogie Nights in 1997. He started writing the screenplay in November 1997. His original intention was modest.
"I wanted to make something that was very small, very quick, very intimate... but I realised I had so many actors I wanted to write for that the form started to come more from them." — Paul Thomas Anderson, Cinephilia & Beyond (compiled interviews)
He had the title "Magnolia" before writing a word of the script. As the screenplay expanded, Anderson decided to put "an epic spin on topics that don't necessarily get the epic treatment" — intimate, everyday emotional moments given the scale of a three-hour film. The finished script ran 194 pages. (wikipedia)
New Line gave Anderson final cut without reading the script
After Boogie Nights, Michael De Luca, then head of production at New Line Cinema, told Anderson he could do whatever he wanted. De Luca approved Magnolia without hearing a pitch, granting Anderson final cut — a remarkable concession for a director on his third feature. The budget was set at approximately $37 million. (wikipedia)
Aimee Mann's music shaped the screenplay
Anderson wrote the script while listening to Aimee Mann's music, including unreleased demos. Mann's song "Deathly" directly inspired the character of Claudia Wilson Gator — the lyric "Now that I've met you / Would you object to / Never seeing each other again" became Claudia's dialogue. "Wise Up," originally written for Jerry Maguire but cut from that film, became the centerpiece of Magnolia's sing-along montage.
"Simon and Garfunkel is to The Graduate as Aimee Mann is to Magnolia." — Paul Thomas Anderson, Magnolia — Wikipedia (1999)
Mann wrote two original songs for the film: "You Do" (based on an excised character) and "Save Me" (the closing song). "Save Me" earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe, and the Grammy Award. Mann's record label had initially resisted releasing her music on an album; the Magnolia soundtrack changed that. (wikipedia)
Anderson researched pickup artists, game shows, and Charles Fort
Frank T.J. Mackey's "Seduce and Destroy" seminars were inspired by recordings of Ross Jeffries' "Speed Seduction" classes. A friend gave Anderson an audio recording from an engineering class in which two men were "talking all this trash" about women and quoting Jeffries, who was teaching techniques derived from Eric Weber's How to Pick Up Women but incorporating hypnotism and subliminal language. Anderson also drew on his own experience working on Quiz Kid Challenge, a television game show, for the What Do Kids Know? sequences. The frog rain was influenced by Charles Fort's writings on anomalous phenomena — documented cases of animals falling from the sky. (wikipedia, slashfilm)
Casting drew from Anderson's repertory and one major movie star
Anderson wrote most roles for specific actors. Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, and Melora Walters had all appeared in his previous films. The major addition was Tom Cruise, who contacted Anderson after seeing Boogie Nights and visited the set of Eyes Wide Shut to meet him. Anderson sent Cruise the finished script; Cruise called the next day, interested but nervous. De Luca helped convince him. (wikipedia)
Jason Robards was Anderson's first choice for Earl Partridge but initially declined due to a staph infection. George C. Scott was offered the role and reportedly threw the script across the room. Robards then accepted. Much of Earl's material drew from Anderson's experience with his own father Ernie Anderson, a television personality who died of cancer. (mentalfloss)
Filming ran ninety days through the first half of 1999
Production began January 12, 1999, originally scheduled for 79 days. The shoot extended to 90 days plus 10 days of second-unit work, wrapping June 24, 1999. Anderson employed his characteristic long takes with complex camera movements. The most notable is a continuous 2-minute-15-second take following Stanley Spector's arrival at the What Do Kids Know? studio, the camera moving through multiple rooms and hallways while transitioning between characters. (wikipedia)
Production designers analyzed films with warm, tight color palettes and used magnolia flower colors — greens, browns, off-whites — as the visual scheme. The 1911 prologue sequence was shot with a hand-cranked Pathé camera authentic to that era. Cinematographer Robert Elswit, who had shot Boogie Nights and Hard Eight, handled the film's dynamic camera work. (wikipedia, mentalfloss)
"Robert Elswit works wonders with his dynamic, mobile camera." — Emanuel Levy, Variety (1999)
Jon Brion composed the score alongside Mann's songs
Jon Brion scored the film, working alongside Aimee Mann's songs. The soundtrack album (December 1999, Reprise Records) featured Mann's songs plus Brion's score selections and tracks by Supertramp and Gabrielle. A full score album followed in March 2000. The "Wise Up" sing-along sequence — in which all nine principal characters sing the song simultaneously in their separate locations — initially made the actors nervous. Anderson asked Julianne Moore to perform first to set the pace. (wikipedia)
Anderson clashed with New Line over marketing
Anderson and New Line Cinema disagreed about how to market the film. Anderson felt the studio had mishandled Boogie Nights promotion and took matters into his own hands: he designed his own poster, cut the trailer personally, wrote soundtrack liner notes, and deliberately downplayed Cruise's presence to emphasize the ensemble. He later acknowledged his approach was "slightly adolescent knee-jerk."
"I needed to learn to fight without being a jerk." — Paul Thomas Anderson, Magnolia — Wikipedia (reflecting on the marketing dispute)
The film opened limited on December 17, 1999 (7 theaters, $193,604) and went wide on January 7, 2000 (1,034 theaters). It grossed $22.5 million domestically and $48.5 million worldwide against its $37 million budget — a modest return. (wikipedia)
Anderson later wished he had cut twenty minutes
Anderson's relationship with the film evolved. He initially declared it "the best movie I'll ever make" but later considered it too long.
"Chill The Fuck Out and Cut Twenty Minutes." — Paul Thomas Anderson, Magnolia — Wikipedia (2015, on what he would tell his younger self)
Editor Dylan Tichenor, who had cut Boogie Nights and served as post-production supervisor on Anderson's first feature Hard Eight, edited the film. Anderson refused New Line's request to cut the runtime to 2 hours 45 minutes. (wikipedia, mentalfloss)
The production diary became a feature-length documentary
Director Mark Rance filmed behind-the-scenes footage throughout the production, resulting in That Moment: Magnolia Diary (2000), a 72-minute documentary that follows the film from pre-production through release. It was included as a special feature on the New Line Platinum Series DVD. (imdb, letterboxd)