Quote of the day II

Deep in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, in a little cinder-block office that used to be a motel room, Carole Stevens is surrounded by memorabilia from her former students. There's a publicity shot from Robin Thicke's last record, a clipping of Toi Cook playing in the Super Bowl. She's proud that so many of them showed up for a recent ceremony commemorating the school's much-beloved founder. And she smiles with real happiness when she remembers the teenage boy who always wore the Cushman Academy sweatshirt even though it was against the rules. When the principal walked by, she would make him go into her bathroom and hide. Then he'd turn it inside out and make his escape. He was always like that, skating right on the edge of trouble, a charmer and a scamp, always turning other people into his accomplices. His best friend was a kid named Shane Conrad, and they were always thick as thieves, plotting one mysterious adventure after another. He was popular with girls and brilliant in the classroom, but he always had another agenda. And he always used to say, "Miss Stevens, I'm going to be a famous director. I'm going to win the Academy Award." And then he grew up to become Paul Thomas Anderson, the acclaimed director of Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, and There Will Be Blood. It's wonderful to think about, almost a fairy tale.

But then Stevens stops, puzzled and even a little sad. Although Anderson is one of the most autobiographical filmmakers of his generation, drawing heavily on his childhood in the San Fernando Valley, most stories about him offer some variation on "very little is known about his early years" or "little is known about Paul's childhood." He has stopped talking to most of his friends from those years, and none of them can say whether he just moved on naturally or broke with his past for some secret reason.

"When he did Magnolia," Stevens says, "I sent word through someone who worked with him to tell Paul it would be great if he could come back for a visit. I'd love to see him. And the answer came: 'Paul doesn't go back.'"

She pauses for a moment. "Isn't that strange?"

-An excerpt from John H. Richardson's engrossing profile of Paul Thomas Anderson in the current issue of Esquire.