For his follow-up to 2014’s Inherent Vice, the currently untitled film (under the production name of Phantom Thread) by Paul Thomas Anderson involves him taking on a particularly significant production role for the first time: director of photography. After we broke the news when production kicked off, Indiewire has now officially confirmed that Anderson, who has utilized Robert Elswit’s skill on all of his previous films save for The Master (which had Mihai Mălaimare Jr. filling in), decided to assume cinematography duties after Elswit was unavailable due to schedule conflicts.
Fortunately, the film, which focuses on what appears to be Daniel Day-Lewis’s final performance as an in-demand dressmaker in the 1950s London fashion scene, seems to be in good hands, as various sources in production have described Anderson as especially adept and knowledgeable with regards to film stock and camera lenses. Whether this maverick auteur’s efforts will result in a look comparable to the gorgeous views of his past work remains to be seen, but this news adds yet another layer of interest to this already much-anticipated movie, which is set to be released on Christmas Day.