Cinema Science

A little rumor about what Paul Thomas Anderson could be doing for his post There Will Be Blood (which is an American classic) from the fansite Cigarettes and Redvines. No idea why they refuse to use capital letters.

we’ve gotten a bunch of various projects and things sent to us that paul is, or is not, “seconds away from shooting” etc etc. the latest one is a film called “power play” apparently set to star jack nicholson about a gambling entrepreneur from a native american casino who decides to take on las vegas.

the film is through paramount pictures and robert evans based on the peter bart novel. no official word obviously from The Family, but i’ll see what comes from asking.

UPDATE: The Playlist has some more info about this project.

File under rumor mill, but it's one that everyone has jumped on and now we feel like we can't ignore just in case (or feel like following the herd, etc.).

According to the very excellent PTA fansite, Cigarettes and Red Vines, the follow-up to Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood," is a film set in Las Vegas and based off the Peter Bart novella, "Power Play," that will be shot for Paramount.

Bart of course is the current editor-in-chief of Variety and the project is apparently set to star Jack Nicholson as a gambling entrepreneur from a Native American casino who decides to take on Las Vegas. Paramount acquired the novel for producer Robert Evans to develop back in 1998:

"I’ve got P.T. Anderson very excited about adapting and directing it. Before he directed 'Boogie Nights,' he covered the gambling terrain very convincingly with 'Hard Eight.' I’m also giving it to Jack Nicholson, who is perfect for the main role,” Evans told Variety in 1998. “It’s an extraordinary story. The largest gambling entrepreneurs are not Trump or Wynn or Kerkorian — they’re the Indians. They operate the most profitable casinos in the world and most are not even full-blooded Indians — they can be one-eighth and still control the tribe, the land and the casino. If they made the worst deal in selling Manhattan for $24, they’re making up for it with a weapon more lethal than bows and arrows.”