Rami Malek is detailing how working with Paul Thomas Anderson on “The Master” inspired him to expand his filmmaking career outside the realm of acting.
Malek, who appeared in the 2012 ensemble film alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jesse Plemons, and Laura Dern, said during SiriusXM’s “Faction Talk” channel town hall that his dismay at a long monologue being cut led him to start producing his own films.
Malek executive produces “The Amateur,” a remake of the 1981 film, and stars as a CIA decoder who is on a mission to avenge the murder of his wife. Malek was accompanied by his co-stars Laurence Fishburne, Rachel Brosnahan, and Caitriona Balfe, plus director James Hawes, during the “Faction Talk” appearance, below.
“I remember doing a scene on ‘The Master’ with Paul Thomas Anderson, and it was a long monologue and I labored over it for so long,” Malek said. “After we were done, I thought about it and thought about it. And of course, I went to see the film and it wasn’t even in the picture.”
He added, “I got a sense at that point that I’d love to at one point direct. I’d love to produce, I’d love to see this career evolve and I like to see things from start to finish. And it’s been an enjoyable process. It’s been a really challenging one as well. But no one here has been more invested than James [Hawes], I must say, in seeing this. All the way through from beginning to end. It’s taken up quite some time for you. And I hope you’re proud of it and you feel some sense of relief at this point.”
Anderson said in 2017 that “The Master” was the film he was most proud of at the time.
“The first time we shot spherical was on ‘The Master,’” Anderson said. “It seemed like a good fit, evoking the old 50s films like ‘Vertigo’ and ‘North By Northwest,’ those large format films but in a boxy frame. It was a nice change from the earlier films. I wanna shoot scope again though…maybe next time.”
Anderson’s next film “One Battle After Another” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is set to hit theaters this fall.
