Lost Masterpiece?

I'm trying to remain calm and rational in the face of the news that production of Paul Thomas Anderson's new film The Master has halted completely. "These things happen," I tell myself. Even though, to my mind, Mr. Anderson is as important a filmmaker as any working today, or yesterday for that matter, that still doesn't mean he has a blank check to do whatever he wants. Look how Orson Welles struggled his whole career. Just be there to support his films when they come out and don't get caught up in the ups and downs of his behind the scenes wheeling and dealing.

Then there is another more melodramatic voice in my head that tells me a catastrophe has just slipped by with barely a blip in our collective radar. Anderson is a world class director at the top of his game, and to have him derailed in his prime makes my imagination run wild with the might-have-beens. I keep substituting titles of past greats to see if I can gauge the possible loss. "Production has stopped on Kubrick's ambitious adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey," says actor Douglas Rain. "Oh, well" we would probably write at the time, "I'm sure Kubrick will find another project to work on."

It's best not to to ponder stuff like this for too long.

"Star William H. Macy tells Entertainment Weekly that the Coens troubled production, Fargo, has closed up shop, possibly for good..."

You see what I mean.