Paul Thomas Anderson on 'The Master'
Sunday, September 16, 2012 | Pam Grady
Source: SF Gate
Freddie Quell, the character Joaquin Phoenix plays in Paul Thomas Anderson's
epic drama "The Master," is a World War II veteran with a fierce case
of post-traumatic stress and an unquenchable thirst. He is a master
mixologist of ingredients that were never meant to be blended together
or imbibed, a bootlegger manufacturing rotgut out of pure poison.
"So much of it is borderline ridiculous," laughs Anderson during a chat at the Toronto International Film Festival the afternoon after "The Master" made its Canadian debut. "We'd read these stories about guys who thought somehow that they could pour pure alcohol into the bread and sort of squeeze it out and that would somehow make it not tear your stomach apart, and I thought, 'That's great! I've got to get that in the film.' And then when you really dig underneath it, basically, the real story is, 'Yeah, we knew idiots that would do that, and those were the guys that tore their stomachs apart, that were s-ing for days and weeks after that.'"
"So much of it is borderline ridiculous," laughs Anderson during a chat at the Toronto International Film Festival the afternoon after "The Master" made its Canadian debut. "We'd read these stories about guys who thought somehow that they could pour pure alcohol into the bread and sort of squeeze it out and that would somehow make it not tear your stomach apart, and I thought, 'That's great! I've got to get that in the film.' And then when you really dig underneath it, basically, the real story is, 'Yeah, we knew idiots that would do that, and those were the guys that tore their stomachs apart, that were s-ing for days and weeks after that.'"