The Out-ofLeft-Field Kids Stay in the Picture

P.T. Anderson has a history of unusual casting choices

Boogie Nights

When “Marky Mark” was cast as porn star Dirk Diggler, most people knew him as a one-hit-wonder rapper and Calvin Klein underwear model. It felt like a stunt, but launched the career of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

Tom Cruise

1999

Magnolia

Cruise was cast wildly against type in the sprawling epic as a creepy motivational speaker/ pickup artist who spews gross catchphrases to his acolytes, like “Respect the cock, tame the cunt.” Jerry Maguire this was not.

Adam Sandler

Punch-Drunk Love 2002 Nobody but Anderson would have imagined the goofball Billy Madison star could pull off playing a lonely toilet-plunger salesman desperate for love. The move paved the way for other Sandler-led dramas, like Uncut Gems.

Joanna Newsom

Inherent Vice 2014

The indie folk singer had virtually no acting experience when she took the role of stoner Sortilège, as well as the narrator, in this Thomas Pynchon adaptation. It arguably set the stage for Alana Haim’s role in Licorice Pizza.