Paul Thomas Anderson — PTA to his legions of obsessive fans — has had a career that barely seems possible. Hailed (rightly) as a genius with Boogie Nights , just his second movie, he has continued to make the case, film after film for nearly 30 years, that he deserves the title. All without directing a single franchise or IP-driven project (no, Thomas Pynchon adaptations don’t count) or, until his latest and biggest swing, One Battle After Another , currently in cinemas , making a movie that grossed more than $100 million worldwide . ( There Will Be Blood , his previous box office champ, topped out at $76 million.)

More surprising still is how PTA has stayed at the very top tier — he’s the only filmmaker to have won best director at Cannes ( Punch-Drunk Love ), Berlin ( The

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