dersons previous short film, Cigarettes and Coffee, which also starred Phillip Baker Hall. The short garnered a great deal of attention, especially from the Sundance Institute, and they eventually invited PTA to develop his first feature at one of their directors lab later that year. That project became Hard Eight.The leading role was written specifically for Phillip Baker Hall, who attended the month long lab with Anderson. Each director attends the lab with two actors. John C. Reilly was the second actor to accompany Paul.The Sundance directors Lab afforded Anderson and his actors an opportunity to develop the acting and concrete the storytelling. The actors experimented with their characters and improvised material.When the time came to shoot the film, Anderson called upon casting director John Lyons to help in the casting of the remaining roles. Anderson was a huge fan of Gwyneth Paltrow. Lyons approached Paltrow with the script and she immediately accepted the role of Clementine. Academy Award-nominated Samuel L. Jackson, who at that time was riding high on the success of his previous film, Pulp Fiction, took on the role of Jimmy. Anderson chose Jackson for his ability to epitomize the classic bad guy image.Production began in January of 1995 on location in Reno where Anderson had had chosen when writing the screenplay. I like Renounlike Las Vegas, which is always so hot, Reno has a winter and the feeling of a real city-its like an Old West town. I think shooting Hard Eight in Reno enabled me to capture a state of mind that I wanted for this film, states PTA.With its minimalist plot and shocking bursts of violence, this unheralded film appeared to be a well-kept secret until it began popping up on the top ten lists of several critics. Along with his follow-up feature, Boogie Nights, Hard Eight marked the arrival of a talented and promising new filmmaker. As a kid, I became obsessed by pornos. ...
