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Paul Thomas Anderson

A consistently creative and maddeningly perfectionist writer/director, Paul Thomas Anderson generates excitement among cinephiles for each project like nobody since Kubrick. Born and raised in the Valley, the son of late-night Cleveland legend Ghoulardi, Anderson was probably fated to enter the industry. His nearly direct-to-DVD debut Hard Eight got our attention, and apparently attracted funding for his breakthrough hit Boogie Nights, an electrifying comic tragedy about the rise and fall of Dirk Diggler and his cronies in the porn biz. Magnolia expanded his scope, being an Altmanesque pastiche of stories surrounding redemption and fate. He would later work with Altman on The Prairie Home Companion as an uncredited assistant. Punch-Drunk Love showed that Anderson is adept at comedy as well, and that he may end up with no boundaries at all.