On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.
Acting
Tom Cruise's career-best as damaged pickup artist Frank.
Direction
PTA's 188-minute symphony of anxiety and grace.
Score
Aimee Mann's melancholic songs become characters themselves.
Director
Paul Thomas Anderson
Tom Cruise
Frank T.J. Mackey
Philip Baker Hall
Jimmy Gator
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Phil Parma
Julianne Moore
Linda Partridge
William H. Macy
Quiz Kid Donnie Smith
John C. Reilly
Officer Jim Kurring
Melora Walters
Claudia Wilson Gator
Jeremy Blackman
Stanley Spector
Jason Robards
Earl Partridge
Melinda Dillon
Rose Gator
Michael Bowen
Rick Spector
April Grace
Gwenovier
Ricky Jay
Burt Ramsey / Narrator
Pat Healy
Sir Edmund William Godfrey / Young Pharmacy Kid
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The frog rain was inspired by Charles Fort's 'Book of the Damned' and Exodus 8:2—hidden throughout as '82' on billboards and backgrounds.
PTA wrote the script during his father's death; the film's title references the magnolia flower, which appears on every Louisiana license plate, symbolizing beauty emerging from swampy decay.
US
