Friday’s Indiewire Springboard column profiles up-and-comers who made a mark in the indie film world and are deserving of your attention.
Katherine Waterston’s been a working actress for close to a decade, but chances are you’ve never heard of her, despite appearances in “Michael Clayton,” “Robot & Frank,” this fall’s “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby” and a stint on HBO’s now defunct drama “Boardwalk Empire.” Her anonymity is soon to be a thing of the past however, thanks to Paul Thomas Anderson. The auteur is back in theaters this holiday season with “Inherent Vice,” his hugely anticipated follow-up to “The Master” — and Waterston features prominently in the loopy comedy, opposite Joaquin Phoenix who plays her ex-boyfriend. In a film full of nutty turns from the likes of Phoenix, James Brolin and Martin Short, it’s Waterston who grounds the proceedings with a raw, memorable performance that drew raves upon the film’s unveiling at the New York Film Festival last month.
Indiewire called Waterston recently to discuss the two projects and her milestone year. “Inherent Vice” opens December 12.
I find life so shocking, in general. Everything about it surprises me.
I think there’s an assumption when you have a parent in the business that you’re given some kind of a cheat sheet at an early age. Some kind of upper hand or some kind of advanced understanding of how the whole thing functions — maybe how to operate within it. I never felt I received that cheat sheet and grew up pretty removed from the business.
When you have a parent in the business or a parent that’s been as lucky and successful as my father — by the time I was conscious of what he did for a living, he was having a good time! He was working a lot. I didn’t see the years that came before — the struggle and the stress of it all.

I was an enormous fan of Paul’s. He’s the director whose movies I go to on opening night. I never watch a trailer before seeing one or read a single word about it. I love the work so much I plug my ears if something had seen something before I had. I just didn’t want to know anything going in.
I didn’t find it difficult to live in the “Inherent Vice” world or play those scenes, because they just seemed so real. It’s just a kind of incredibly efficient writing where I felt like I knew so much about my character from just those first two pages of the novel — of what is said and what isn’t said. It’s just so damned smart.
It’s very difficult to talk about Thomas Pynchon and Paul Thomas Anderson — these people I admire so much, it’s very difficult to express the admiration because I feel kind of overwhelmed by it. And when I hear myself giving an interview, talking about it, I’m like, “I’m talking about these masters in their fields and I cannot believe the fortune I’ve had to get to this place.”
It’s strange to have a ‘pinch me’ moment a year after you’ve made a movie, but it’s still quite amazing to me. That I got to be in “Inherent Vice,” a part of the film. It’s really pretty much the best thing that’s ever happened to me!
READ MORE: Paul Thomas Anderson is Back With First ‘Inherent Vice’ Trailer
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.