Over the course of twenty-plus years, Paul Thomas Anderson has established himself as one of our finest, most accomplished, and most electrifying filmmakers. Producing masterpiece after masterpiece, Anderson only continues to hone his skills and demonstrate his cinematic vision, and that likely won't change anytime soon. In the lead-up to the release of last year's Licorice Pizza, there were rumors swimming around that Anderson was already working on his follow-up film. Now, we can confirm that is, indeed, the case.
As it was spotted on the casting site Actors Access, there is currently a casting call for an upcoming project referred to simply as "Untitled CK/PTA Studio Feature Film." The CK, it should be noted, relates to casting director Cassandra Kulukundis, whom Anderson has worked with going all the way back to Boogie Nights. There aren't too many details to glean from the project simply from this notice, though it should be reported that Kulukundis and Anderson are looking for a 15-to-16-year-old female of mixed ethnicity. Also, the casting call notes that the actress should be "physically athletic and excels at Martial Arts." Furthermore, the talent search reveals that PTA's forthcoming film hopes to start production in the summer of 2023, and Anderson will, once again, film his hometown of Los Angeles.
There's not much else known about the project otherwise, but there's no denying that those details alone are pretty enticing. We'll certainly keep an eye out for whatever other tidbits might slip out, though there's good reason to believe that this untitled new movie could be related to an L.A.-set 1940s jazz film, which Anderson has been mulling about throughout the press tours for both Phantom Thread and his most recent film. Specifically, the proposed project will explore L.A.'s "Little Harlem," where South Central's Hotel Dunbar became a creative center for the expanding and thriving arts and music scene in the African-American community, as World of Reel reported earlier this year.
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Additionally, Tiffany Haddish revealed that she has been kicking some ideas around with PTA, notably as they related to this proposed project. The actress told Vulture that she and Anderson have talked at least a few times and she believed that they were "probably gonna work together." Additionally, while also speaking with Indiewire, Haddish had the following to say about this years-in-the-making new film:
You know how they got ‘Harlem Nights‘? I was like, ‘What if we did 'South Central Nights,' like what South Central used to be? How L.A. was this place where you could come and be free, but it was still very segregated, and how that worked in the relationships, the interracial relationships, and all that dynamic?
Of course, that's also assuming that this project is the one that Anderson is working on right now. We'll have to wait to discover new details in the months to come, but you can consider us very enticed!
In the meantime, check out Licorice Pizza's trailer below: