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"Amy Adams"

Explore episode Jun 22, 2026
Arts
Yelling at Paul Thomas Anderson Got Her Cast in The Master

"Amy Adams" · Jun 22, 2026 Arts

Amy Adams confronted Paul Thomas Anderson at a house party for irresponsibly egging on a drunk mutual friend — not knowing he was her favorite filmmaker. She was secretly 10 weeks pregnant and agitated. He apparently loved it, and cast her in The Master.

Where this was said

The Master, David O. Russell & Leap Year

At 49:20 · chapter starts 47:50

Sean opens this section by calling The Master one of his favorite films and noting his excitement any time Paul Thomas Anderson calls. Jason and Will ask how she ended up with David O. Russell on The Fighter — Amy says Russell took a chance on her when the industry didn't see her that way, and that something about an early interaction between them (described vaguely as getting in someone's face over a valet situation) showed him something. She was filming Leap Year in Ireland when The Fighter came through, and the contrast was instructive: she learned that romantic comedy is not her lane. She's too earnest, too inclined to transform light material into Wuthering Heights, she says — and she's made peace with that.

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