Paul Thomas Anderson worked.
Inherent Vice (film) . The seventh feature film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson , Inherent Vice was adapted by Anderson from the novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon ; the cast includes Joaquin Phoenix , Josh Brolin , Owen Wilson , Katherine Waterston , Eric Roberts , Reese Witherspoon , Benicio del Toro , Jena Malone , Joanna Newsom , Jeannie Berlin , Maya Rudolph , Michael K. Williams and Martin Short . Paul Thomas Anderson ( born June 26 , 1970 ) also known as P.T. Anderson , is an American filmmaker . After he attended the Sundance Institute , Anderson had a deal with Rysher Entertainment to direct his first feature film , a neo-noir crime thriller titled Hard Eight , in 1996 . Anderson received critical and commercial success for his film Boogie Nights ( 1997 ) , set during the Golden Age of Porn in the 1970s and 1980s . Anderson has been nominated for six Academy Awards over the course of his career , while his works have earned a further fourteen Academy Award nominations and two wins for cast and crew .