Musical Montage: Michael Penn “Try”
When singer/songwriter Michael Penn provided the score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s breakout film Boogie Nights in 1997, PTA returned the favor by directing the music video for Penn’s song “Try”, which was the opening song of Penn’s 1997 album Resigned. Penn, who is the brother of Chris and Sean Penn, also scored PTA’s debut film, Hard Eight, and later did other film scores like The Comedians of Comedy, American Teen, and The Last Kiss. True to his directing style, Anderson directed the music video for “Try” in one of his trademark long takes, filming the entire video as one three-minute shot in what is the longest hallway in North America, located in downtown Los Angeles. Boogie Nights co-star and frequent PTA collaborator Phillip Seymour Hoffman made two appearances in the music video and Thomas Jane and Melora Walters also appeared in the video. You can check it out below.
