Guests:
Ralph Esparza (Film Producer)
Credited on Tollbooth, The Exorcist's House, Killer Date, and An Occasional Hell
@ralph_esparza on IG
Michael Willoughby (Film Critic/Reviewer)
Cast:
Paul Thomas Anderson, Writer/Director
Jon Brion, Music
Jeremy Blackman as Stanley Spector
Tom Cruise as Frank T.J. Mackey
Melinda Dillon as Rose Gator
April Grace as Gwenovier
Luis Guzmán as Luis
Philip Baker Hall as Jimmy Gator
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Phil Parma
Ricky Jay as Burt Ramsey
William H. Macy as Quiz Kid Donnie Smith
Alfred Molina as Solomon Solomon
Julianne Moore as Linda Partridge
Michael Murphy as Alan Kligman, Esq.
John C. Reilly as Jim Kurring
Jason Robards as Earl Partridge
Melora Walters as Claudia Wilson Gator
*Recognition:
Magnolia was released on December 17, 1999.
On a budget of $37 million, it would gross roughly $48.5 million finishing #64 at the worldwide box office for 1999.
Critics were a bit mixed at the time with many though finding the film among the year's best.
Magnolia would receive 3 Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Cruise), Original Screenplay (Anderson), and Original Song (Aimee Mann).
In an interview, Ingmar Bergman mentioned Magnolia as an example of the "strength of American cinema".
Roger Ebert included the work in his "Great Movies" list in November 2008, saying, "As an act of filmmaking, it draws us in and doesn't let go."
Total Film magazine placed it at number 4 in their list of 50 Best Movies in Total Film's lifetime.
In 2008, it was named the 89th greatest movie of all time by Empire magazine in its issue of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
It received eight votes – five from critics and three from directors – in the British Film Institute's 2012 Sight & Sound polls.
Following the film's release, Anderson said: "I really feel ... That Magnolia is, for better or worse, the best movie I'll ever make." Later he came to consider it overlong; when asked in an interview what he would tell himself to do if he could go back to when he shot the film, his response was "Chill The Fuck Out and Cut Twenty Minutes."
Magnolia currently holds an 82% among critics on RT, a 78 score on Metacritic, and a 4.2/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: Magnolia is a sprawling, kaleidoscopic meditation on the interconnectedness of lives and the consequences of human frailty, directed with audacious ambition by Paul Thomas Anderson. Set in the San Fernando Valley, the film weaves together a mosaic of seemingly disparate characters—each grappling with their own wounds, secrets, and regrets. A dying patriarch seeks closure, a nurse becomes a moral anchor, a game show host confronts buried truths, and a motivational speaker teeters on the edge of self-destruction. What unites them is a shared yearning for forgiveness and redemption, underscored by a sequence of events that defy explanation and culminate in a surreal, unforgettable act of grace.
Fueled by Jon Brion's evocative score and Aimee Mann's haunting songs, Magnolia is less a story than an emotional storm, one that challenges, overwhelms, and ultimately lingers in the heart like a plaintive hymn to the mysteries of life.
Did You Know:
The story about the man being killed by a gunshot while falling off a building has for years been used as a hypothetical case in criminal law classes to illustrate causation.
When Paul Thomas Anderson approached George C. Scott about playing the role of Earl Partridge, Scott threw the script across the room, saying "This is the worst fucking thing I've ever read. The language is terrible."
Paul Thomas Anderson wrote the bulk of the script during two weeks he spent at William H. Macy's Vermont cabin - afraid to go outside because he'd seen a snake.
Paul Thomas Anderson made a visit to the set of Eyes Wide Shut (1999), where he offered the role of Frank T.J. Mackey to Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise loved Boogie Nights (1997) so much, he asked Paul Thomas Anderson to consider him for a part in his next film. Cruise, while initially rather terrified at playing such a change in pace, relished the role as it was so completely different from the repressed character he played in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999).
This is Jason Robards' last feature film.
Almost every location contains at least one picture or painting of a magnolia.
The telephone number (877) TAME-HER is shown on the "Seduce and Destroy" infomercials within the movie. Dialing this number used to give a recording of Tom Cruise giving the Seduce and Destroy pitch.
Ask Dana Anything:
Ralph Esparza
What are you drinking?
Michael Willoughby (Skadoooosch)
Robin Williams, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford; who's filmography would you be willing to lose forever?
Best Performance: Paul Thomas Anderson (Writer/Director)/Robert Elswit (Cinematographer)/Dylan Tichenor (Editor)/Ensemble Cast
Best Secondary Performance: John C. Reilly (Jim)/Melora Walters (Claudia)/Tom Cruise (Frank)/Alfred Molina (Solomon)
Most Charismatic Award: Tom Cruise (Frank)/Henry Gibson (Thurston)/Jason Robards (Earl)
Best Scene:
Respect the Cock
Donnie and the Bartender
Pharmacy
Frank's Interview
Jim and Claudia
Stanley Refuses to Perform
Wise Up
Raining Frogs
Frank Confronts Earl
Favorite Scene: Respect the Cock/Jim Kisses Claudia/Frank Confronts Earl
Most Indelible Moment: Raining Frogs
In Memorium:
Thom Christopher, 84, American actor (One Life to Live, Loving, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century).
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Frank T.J. Mackey: Respect the cock! And tame the cunt! Tame it! Take it on headfirst with the skills that I will teach you at work and say no! You will not control me! No! You will not take my soul! No! You will not win this game! Because it's a game, guys. You want to think it's not, huh? You want to think it's not? Go back to the schoolyard and you have that crush on big-titted Mary Jane. Respect the cock. You are embedding this thought. I am the one who's in charge. I am the one who says yes! No! Now! Here! Because it's universal, man. It is evolutional. It is anthropological. It is biological. It is animal. We... are... men!
Phil Pharma: Why are there frogs falling from the sky?
Grocery Store Clerk: Do you still want the peanut butter and the bread?
Avi Solomon: Donnie, You got struck by lightning last summer you were on vacation in Tahoe, I don't think braces is a good idea.
Frank T.J. Mackey: I will drop-kick those fuckin' dogs if they come near me.
Jimmy Gator: The book says, "We might be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us."
Earl Partridge: I loved her so. And she knew what I did. She knew all the fucking stupid things I'd done. But the love... was stronger than anything you can think of. The goddamn regret. The goddamn regret! Oh, and I'll die. Now I'll die, and I'll tell you what... the biggest regret of my life... I let my love go.
Earl Partridge: ...don't ever let anyone ever say to you you shouldn't regret anything. Don't do that. Don't! You regret what you fucking want! Use that. Use that. Use that regret for anything, any way you want. You can use it, OK?
Donnie Smith: I really do have love to give! I just don't know where to put it!
Jim Kurring: A lot of people think this is just a job that you go to. Take a lunch hour... job's over. Something like that. But it's a 24-hour deal. No two ways about it. And what most people don't see... is just how hard it is to do the right thing. People think if I make a judgment call... that's a judgment on them, but that is not what I do. And that's not what should be done. I have to take everything... and play it as it lays. Sometimes people need a little help. Sometimes people need to be forgiven. And sometimes they need to go to jail. And that is a very tricky thing on my part... making that call. I mean, the law is the law. And heck if I'm gonna break it. You can forgive someone. Well, that's the tough part. What can we forgive? Tough part of the job. Tough part of walking down the street.
Gwenovier: Come on, Frank. What are you doing?
Frank T.J. Mackey: What am I doing? I'm quietly judging you.
Frank T.J. Mackey: Don't go away, you fucking asshole, don't go away. Don't go away, you fucking asshole, don't go away! Don't go away you fucking asshole!
Rick Spector: [to Stanley] Stand up! Show me! ... Oh, for fuck's sake, Stanley, why did you do that?
Stanley Spector: Dad? You need to be nicer to me.
Claudia Wilson Gator: I'll tell you everything, and you tell me everything, and maybe we can get through all the piss and shit and lies that kill other people.
Donnie Smith: I'm sick and I'm in love.
Thurston Howell: You seem the sort of person who confuses the two.
Thurston Howell: It's dangerous to confuse children with angels.
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 5.38
Impact/Significance: 7.13
Novelty: 8.5
Classic-ness: 8.38
Rewatchability: 8.25
Audience Score: 7.75 (70% Google, 89% RT)
Total: 45.39
Remaining Questions:
Does Jimmy Gator burn to death in his house?
What is the significance of the frogs?
Does Jim try to save Claudia?
Do the kids continue their streak on the game show?
Does Linda survive, and what would be her relationship with Frank?