Paul Thomas Anderson: I love film confusion

Paul Thomas Anderson finds it "thrilling" that people need to watch his new movie several times.

The American director has helmed some of the biggest movies in Hollywood during his career, such as Boogie Nights and The Master. Next up is crime drama Inherent Vice, based on the same-titled novel by Thomas Pynchon, which follows investigator Larry 'Doc' Sportello [Joaquin Phoenix] who looks into the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend. It's a heavy storyline to digest, but Paul is pleased it's mind-boggling.

"I don't aim for that, but I like hearing it, because I think the implication is that it feels good, that you want to see it again, so that's high praise. But it's weird... I was thinking about it last night," he mused to Total Film magazine. "We were the centrepiece [of the New York Film Festival] and it was a weird feeling. Like, 'How did I get here? How do I get on the sidelines again?' It's thrilling that people have expectations but there's no way it can be what you thought it was. How many albums have you bought when you go, 'This is f**king terrible'. Then you listen to it three or four times and it's great."

Paul has been engrossed in the movie-making business from a young age, directing his first film aged eight. Even now he is an award-winning director he still enjoys soaking in other projects and jumps at the chance to do so.

"I got deathly sick about six months ago, to the point I could not get out of bed. I was laying there, watching movie after movie. And I thought, 'I might stay sick for a couple more days,'" he laughed. "I mean, I was getting a lot of sympathy from the wife, and I didn't have to make lunch and get everyone ready for school...

"The point is, I did need to refuel on movies. It wasn't just me being lazy."