Paul Thomas Anderson became interested in the
fashion industry after reading about designer
Cristóbal Balenciaga. Reynolds Woodcock's obsessive fastidiousness is loosely inspired by English-American fashion designer
Charles James.
Daniel Day-Lewis, a
method actor, spent a year learning dressmaking from Marc Happel in preparation for the role. He gained enough skill to enable him to recreate an iconic Balenciaga dress.
Filming Principal photography began in late January 2017 in
Lythe, England, United Kingdom, with a number of other locations in the
North York Moors, including
Robin Hood's Bay and
Staithes. Filming also took place at
Owlpen Manor in the
Cotswolds and in the London neighbourhood of
Fitzrovia, in
Fitzroy Square, in
Grafton Mews, at the Grandhotel Giessbach,
Brienz,
Switzerland,
Lake Brienz, and
Brienzer Rothorn. The New Year's Eve party was filmed at the Blackpool Tower ballroom with approximately 500 supporting artistes. During filming, the crew moved into 3 Fitzroy Square, which functioned as accommodation and storage in addition to set. Day-Lewis, who, in keeping with his method acting approach, stayed in character throughout the shoot, has described it as an "awful" experience, remarking "We were living on top of each other. There was no space. That entire house was like a termite nest".
Cinematography While
Robert Elswit had served as
cinematographer for most of Anderson's previous films, Anderson ultimately served as his own cinematographer for
Phantom Thread. No cinematographer is listed in the film's credits, but
Michael Bauman, who previously worked as Anderson and Elswit's
gaffer, was credited as the "lighting cameraman". Anderson and Bauman
pushed their
35 mm film stock and filled its frames with "theatrical haze" to "dirty up" their look; according to Bauman, "One of the first things [Paul] said was, 'Look, this cannot look like
The Crown.' That was a big thing. When people think of a period movie it becomes this beautifully polished, amazingly photographed—I mean,
The Crown looks beautiful—but super clean, gorgeous light, and he was clear it couldn't look like that." In 2020, Elswit publicly criticized Anderson's cinematography, saying in an interview, "He just threw a lot of smoke in the room. Which he never would let me do, he never let me smoke a set... I enjoyed the film [but] if I shot that movie I would not be happy with it ending up looking like it looked, that's all". The soundtrack features prominently in the film, with nearly ninety minutes of music during the film's 130-minute runtime. ==Reception==