Magnolia
Short description
Magnolia takes place over a single day in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, where a group of unrelated people find their lives intersecting. Among them are a wealthy man nearing the end of his life, his much younger wife, and the nurse caring for him; a television quiz show host; a former child quiz prodigy; a policeman; and a self-styled expert on seduction. What begins as separate strands gradually reveals connections between the characters, along with questions of guilt, regret and reconciliation.
Paul Thomas Anderson wrote, directed and produced the film, his fourth feature in a career of fifteen directing credits, following Hard Eight and preceding Punch-Drunk Love. The large ensemble includes Tom Cruise, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy and John C. Reilly, supported by a credited cast of 116 and a crew of 373. Made for 37 million USD, it returned 48 million USD worldwide.
On IMDb it holds 8 out of 10 from 349,000 votes, on TMDB 7.7 out of 10 from 4,163 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 8.2 out of 10 from 219 reviews, placing critical appraisal slightly above the audience scores. The film runs 189 minutes.
What's left behind the scenes
- When police officer Jim Carring loses his gun, a person in a hooded jacket briefly appears in the frame. This is actor Orlando Jones, whose scenes were cut from the film.
- Anderson wrote the screenplay in two weeks. All this time he was at William H. Macy's cabin in Vermont and was afraid to go outside because he saw a snake. Claudia, played by Melora Walters, was the first character Anderson came up with. All the other characters were then “tailored” to her. Anderson also designed the film's poster and edited the trailers himself.
- The film depicts a rather rare meteorological phenomenon, such as rain of frogs. 7,900 rubber frogs were used in the scene with the frog rain; the rest were added digitally. For the information of animal rights activists, it was reported that no real frogs were used in the film. Anderson recounted that he initially was unaware that the rain of frogs was a direct quote from the Bible (Exodus 8:2). He took this image from the work of scientist Charles Fort. He was told about the biblical plot by actor Henry Gibson, after which Anderson made a specific reference to the 'original source'.
- The same phone number – (818)775-3993 – is used twice in the film: first Phil calls it, then it turns out to be the number of Linda's pharmacy.
- In 1999, Kevin Smith published a highly negative review of 'Magnolia' (1999) on his forum, which sparked a real war between fans of Paul Thomas Anderson and Kevin Smith. The film 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' contains a reference to this feud: one of the usernames on the forum that Jay and Silent Bob are reading is Magnolia-Fan.
- Henry Gibson plays Thurston Howell; the character received this name in honor of Jim Backus's character from the series 'Gilligan's Island' (1964–1967).
- The word 'fuck' is used 190 times in the film.
- Filming took 90 days, although it was originally planned to be completed in 77.
- The director initially offered the role of the dying Earl Partridge to George C. Scott. The actor angrily threw the script aside and stated that it was “the worst thing I’ve ever read; the language is simply disgusting.” The role of Partridge went to Jason Robards. Robards outlived his character by only a year.
- Tom Cruise agreed to the role immediately after reading the film's script.
- Anderson visited the set of Stanley Kubrick's film 'Eyes Wide Shut' (1999), where he offered Tom Cruise the role of Frank Mackey.
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