THOMAS PYNCHON

American Novelist

Check Out New Inherent Vice Posters

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Steven Chorney

Steven Chorney

Warner Bros. released a collection character-focused posters in advance of the general theatrical release of Inherent Vice on January 9. They were created for online use only.

Each poster features a specific character in Inherent Vice.

The posters were designed by BLT Communications, LLC, an advertising agency located in Hollywood, CA. BLT also designed the Inherent Vice billboard art seen here and here.

Steven Chorney was the artist. His artwork won three Clio awards in 2015 (1 Grand, 2 Gold). Working in Hollywood, Mr. Chorney (b. 1951) has been doing illustrations since the 1970s.

When I asked Steve, by email, about his contribution to the artwork, he diplomatically responded: “no one person can claim credit. It was due to the combined efforts of some very talented people. I am happy to have been a part of it.”

He subsequently followed up, messaging to me….

“Thank you very much for wanting to include any thoughts or observations regarding my involvement with the Inherent Vice posters. It was a very involved project to be sure. All the character posters, the main Key art poster, the billboard art, several internet illustrations and also a film magazine cover in the UK. And that is not even counting all the preliminary concept sketches and several additional illustrations that in the end, were never used. This project was monumental…no one artist could have possibly done it alone! It was indeed a “team” of skilled artists that threw in together in order to make it happen. I can honestly say I was really happy to have been part of it because I am not sure we will see anything quite like it again!!”

Looking at his past work, you can get a good idea of his contribution to the “Inherent Vice” posters.

Enjoy!

Owen Wilson - Inherent Vice

IV-poster-Josh

IV-poster-Reese

IV-poster-benecio

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Review: A Pynchon Fan’s First Impressions of “Inherent Vice” the Movie

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Inherent Vice - Last Supper Art PosterOn November 10, 2014, I was fortunate enough to attend an advance screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Inherent Vice, at the Harmony Gold Screening Room on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Just prior to the evening screening, I decided to re-read the final three chapters of Inherent Vice, as it had been over five years since I’d read it. This may have been a mistake, as a movie isn’t a novel and has to compress a novel’s essence into a much briefer time span. The trick is to make a movie that works as a cinematic experience and, often, requiring that faithfulness to the novel take a backseat. But re-reading a bit allowed me to better see the disparities between the film and the novel, at least for those few chapters.

As an enthusiastic reader of Pynchon, I was skeptical that even a director of Anderson’s calibre could successfully translate a fairly conventional Pynchon novel to the Big Screen. And after seeing the film, I wasn’t sure what to say in a “review,” due to the complexity of my reaction and the feeling that I really needed to see it again, that it requires multiple viewings. But I’ve procrastinated as long as possible, as the film comes out tomorrow (in selected cities; general release is January 9, 2015)!

So off we went… My pal David Kipen, who procured the tickets, and I left Pasadena and headed to West Hollywood, both of us pretty excited despite my being at the tailend of a brief-but-brutal stomach virus and so a bit shakey.

CAVEAT: Regarding this “review,” I’ve only seen PT Anderson’s Inherent Vice once. I feel the film justifies a repeat viewing to really grasp Anderson’s vision. It’s entirely possible that my opinion of this film may evolve after a second look. And I DO recommend that you see it. MY job was to write this review; HIS job — much more difficult — was to actually make a good film…

UPDATE 12.12.14: I was privileged to speak to Mr. Anderson this morning via the PBS program Forum (on KQED in the SF Bay Area) and ask about all the great period music included in Pynchon’s Inherent Vice not making it to the film. Paul explained his reasons for not doing so. Here’s our exchange:

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Inherent Vice Posters Riff on the Last Supper

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And those Inherent Vice movie posters just keep on coming…

Here’s one, a scene from the Paul Thomas Anderson film. A rendering of this photo was the centerspread in the programs that were given out at the New York Film Festival screening of Inherent Vice in November 2014:

Inherent Vice - Last Supper

And then there’s this supergroovy Last Supper — with pizza — poster promoting the film, featuring Owen Wilson, who plays Doc Sportello. Apparently, this was created over at the Little White Lies website in the UK:

Inherent Vice - Last Supper Art Poster

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New Poster Variations and Trailer for PT Anderson’s Inherent Vice Film

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Warner Bros. and Paul Thomas Anderson have been quite busy creating new ways to promote Anderson’s upcoming Inherent Vice, based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon.

New poster variants to accommodate different contexts

Well, now we know who those lovely legs and feet belong to — Katherine Waterston who plays Shasta Fay Hepworth in the film.
Inherent Vice Poster - Long Form

Inherent Vice Poster

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Director’s Cut Trailer

Finally, there’s a new trailer directed by Anderson to promote the film in the United Kingdom. It’s shorter and goofier, leaning harder on the comedic aspects of the film in both selection of clips and accompanying music:

New Poster for PT Anderson’s “Inherent Vice” Movie – Imagined!

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Artist Alex Fellows, the Associate Creative Director at TracyLocke in New York, created his own concept for a poster for the Paul Thomas Anderson film of the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice.

I must say I like it better than the more conventional ones put out by the Warner Bros studio. More, um, Pynchonian…. Agree?

Alex Fellows - Inherent Vice Poster

Penguin’s Movie Tie-in Cover for Pynchon’s Inherent Vice book

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When Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice hits the theaters — in December, 2014 — Penguin Books, Pynchon’s publisher, will be ready with a movie-tie-in cover for the paperback edition of the novel.

While it retains the neon text treatment of the original cover, the surf-shop imagery (created by Darshan Zenith) is replaced with the neon-infused face of Joaquin Phoenix (as Doc Sportello), with characters and imagery from the movie — à la Klaus Voorman’s illustration for the cover of the Beatles’ classic mid-60s LP Revolver — tangled in Phoenix’s hair. Pretty cool….

Inherent Vice Movie Tie-in Cover

Thomas Pynchon and Brian Wilson

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"Pet Sounds" - Released May, 1966.

“Pet Sounds” – Released May, 1966.

In the mid-1960s, both Thomas Pynchon and the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson were forging new creative paths in their respective art forms. Both artists, fueled by visions partially — or significantly — enhanced by the ingesting of psychedelics, were attempting to capture these visions in their work. Pynchon, in his groundbreaking third novel Gravity’s Rainbow, and Wilson, trying to further extend his idea of “a teenage symphony to God” with the highly anticipated follow-up to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds LP (1966), were trying to bring it all together.

Pynchon was able to wrangle his deep and complex vision into an incredible novel, winning the National Book Award in 1974 and almost garnering a Pulitzer Prize (rather than select such a controversial novel, the jurors gave out no prize for literature in 1974). Wilson, however, facing pushback from his band (made up of three brothers and a cousin) and his record company, as well as a psyche increasingly destabilized by his drug intake, was unable to bring his Smile project to fruition.

Yes, these two artistic giants did meet, due to Pynchon’s enthusiasm for Pet Sounds and a Cornell classmate, writer Jules Siegel (RIP), who also knew Brian Wilson. The meeting, which occurred sometime in 1966, didn’t result in any meaningful exchange of ideas between the two; but a meeting by two such highly creative men at the height of their powers and both involved in massive projects, is noteworthy. Here’s the story….

Thomas Pynchon Hears Pet Sounds

In his March 1977 Playboy article “Who Is Thomas Pynchon…And Why Did He Take Off With My Wife?” writer Jules Siegel claims that in 1966 while on assignment to do an article on Bob Dylan for The Saturday Evening Post, he visited Pynchon in the one-room apartment he rented in Manhattan Beach, California, to wit:

I told [Pynchon] about the Dylan assignment. ‘You ought to do one on The Beach Boys,’ he said. I pretended to ignore that. A year or so later, I was in Los Angeles again, doing a story for the Post on The Beach Boys [ultimately published by Cheetah magazine]. He had forgotten his earlier remark and was no longer interested in them. I took him to my apartment in Laurel Canyon, got him royally loaded and made him lie down on the floor with a speaker at each ear while I played Pet Sounds, their most interesting and least popular record. It was not then fashionable to take The Beach Boys seriously.

‘Ohhhhh,” he sighed softly with stunned pleasure after the record was done. ‘Now I understand why you are writing a story about them.’

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Initial Reviews of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice Movie are Overwhelmingly Positive

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Inherent-Vice-feet-posterYep, as one reviewer said, Paul Thomas Anderson’s film of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice is a “zany tragicomic odyssey that calls out for a repeat viewing” and so it appears. The reviews are, for the most part, positive.

Like any Pynchon novel, the film is weird and murky and the central mystery remains unresolved at the film’s conclusion. If it did resolve, it certainly wouldn’t be faithful to the book. Many of the critics note that Inherent Vice will reward repeat viewings, that there’s simply too much to taken in the first time ’round. Sound familiar?

I, for one, am green with envy for those who were able to see the initial screenings. I can’t wait to see this film!

Here’s an overview of Inherent Vice‘s reviews after the initial screenings at the New York Film Festival in early October 2014.
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Official Trailer for PT Anderson’s Adaptation of “Inherent Vice” Arrives!

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Inherent-Vice-feet-posterToday, Sunday, September 29, 2014, Warner Bros. released the Official Trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice, as well as a poster (at left; click to enlarge).

Odd that the trailer features Sly Stone’s “I Want To Take You Higher” (1969) and Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World” (1960), neither of which was namechecked in Pynchon’s Inherent Vice, and there were a LOT of 1960’s/1970’s tunes namechecked in that novel!

Judging from the trailer, the film is a slapstick affair, wacky and well lit…. Boom shaka laka laka!

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ThomasPynchon.com (formerly the HyperArts Pynchon Pages) came online in 1997. With the publication of Against the Day in 2007, the alphabetical guides to Pynchon's novels were migrated to the Pynchon Wikis.

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