Altman Gets a "Companion" Director

Here's some news of the three-week-old variety:

(The picture to the right of Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan singing together is one of the first official images from the project.)

Paul Thomas Anderson, maverick boy wonder filmmaker of Magnolia and Boogie Nights, is helping Robert Altman with A Prarie Home Companion. Altman is, of course, 80 years old and is having some difficulties carrying out the duties of a director. Enter PTA as his apprentice. Anderson is said to be listening to everything Altman wants completed for the day and then carrying out the tasks. In exchange, Anderson will be credited as Executive Producer on the project. Now, pretty much everything you'll be seeing will be pure Altman given that it is still Altman's picture and his say will be what goes. Given that Anderson's Boogie Nights is at its core Nashville in the porn world and Magnolia just a variation on Short Cuts, there really isn't anyone better for the job. This news is equal parts exciting and kind of sad. The feeling that this will be Altman's last film looms.

Anderson also has another connection to the project: he's fathering co-star Maya Rudolph's child. Rudolph is pregnant, a fact that was unbeknownst to me. And I typically know everything.