Any world-class auteur will be the first to admit that the key to crafting a personal story that resonates is to look inward before expressing outwardly.

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Paul Thomas Anderson is no exception. The eclectic filmmaker with a knack for precision and perfectionism has never graced the screen himself. Yet his many protagonists or other major characters most definitely seem to reflect patterns and behaviors on-brand with the personality he's shown in interviews. So much so that the following 10 "PTA" characters would make for skilled behind-the-cameramen themselves if the director were to will them to life for some overly meta intrigue.

Reynolds Woodcock

Reynolds Woodcock.

If Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals proved anything, it is that fashion designer/costume gurus would be anything but one-hit wonders if more of them traveled down the filmmaking route. Thus qualifying the latest PTA protagonist, Phantom Thread's Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel-Day Lewis, in an Oscar-nominated performance). The dressmaking influencer in 1950s' London would transition to directorial duties rather nicely, what with his own commitment-to-excellence and creativity-in-overdrive despair, if he were ever to make a sudden career change.

Barry Egan

Though too internalized to be his most alive self at the onset of Punch-Drunk Love, the narrative pathos of Barry Egan (Adam Sandler, in a Golden Globe-nominated performance) concludes with him seizing the day.

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Egan's epic transformation is not dissimilar to those undergone by neurotic writers/filmmakers when they finally bring the pen to paper enough times to turn their proverbial head-trip into a living, breathing organism.

Lena Leonard

Lena Leonard.

It was through the power of love Egan had found both his calling and the drive to tap into his inner strength that had been ever-dormant prior. Something a truly compassionate collaborator - either in romance or on-set - could bring out in even the most insecure individuals. As acting often calls for people to sink to their most absolute point of vulnerability, they would be in good hands with someone like Punch-Drunk Love's Lena Leonard (Emily Watson).

Sydney

Sydney.

Equal parts friend, fixer, manipulator, and criminal, Hard Eight's Sydney (Philip Baker Hall) was not your typical deeply-disturbed or repressed PTA protagonist for the director to break out of the gate with. Yet he exemplifies what it means to be a filmmaker. With the world of high-stakes casino gambling in place of cinema, Sydney carries himself a stalwart motivated and shaped by regret. Sydney, like any seasoned set-runner, knows that to overcome the wrongs of the past is to be unafraid of getting your hands dirty for the greater good.

Freddie Quell

Just look at that man behind the camera. His photographic exploits may have been more-or-less abandoned as he sunk deeper into the wave-storm that was "The Cause."

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But a Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) broken free from his new surrogate family's hypnotic spell could assuredly draw enough from the experience to bring forth devastating motion to previously still images.

Daniel Plainview

Daniel Plainview.

Give the early 20th-century oilman a camera and you would have the relentlessness of Stanley Kubrick and the explosion obsession of Michael Bay. And also a great deal of blood.

Daniel Day-Lewis' Oscar-winning effort in There Will Be Blood is as iconic as it gets. Moreover, a follow-up titled "There Will Be Cinema" about Plainview reneging on his "I'm finished" personal bowling alley utterance to then become a Golden Age filmmaker is not the worst conceived sequel in existence.

Larry "Doc" Sportello

Larry "Doc" Sportello.

A man whose hairstyle seemingly changes scene to scene with no explanation is bound to hold the capacity to wear as many hats as any elite-caliber filmmaker would. Such describes the private detective at the helm of Inherent Vice, PTA's 2014 adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's novel.

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Everything about "Doc" (Joaquin Phoenix) oozes New Hollywood. He would have had the free reign to make some psychedelically far-out mysteries during the pre-Heaven's Gate auteur boom.

Frank T.J. Mackey

Frank T.J. Mackey.

The type of provocateur who would sooner make his own life story to prove that no one could play him quite like he could, the motivational speaker in question was pressed for a longtime-coming breakdown that manifested in the final act of Magnolia. 

Here's to imagining the run-time on the unrestricted biopic about the bonafide standout (Tom Cruise, in his third and most-recent Oscar-nominated performance) from the loaded 1999 ensemble that PTA still wishes he should have cut twenty minutes off of. Likely titled, "Search and Destroy: The Frank T.J. Mackey Story."

Jack Horner

Jack Horner.

Clearly, to suggest Boogie Nights' Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds, in an Oscar-nominated performance) - a filmmaker-by-trade - could produce cinematic gold in real life is not that much of a stretch.

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Through creating original, empathetic porn industry players like no one before him, PTA helped draw attention to a then-not oft-discussed reality. That even a cream-of-the-crop adult film director like Horner ceased to gain respect for the creative aspects of his vision due to the many stigmas attached to the genre in which he'd made his living.

Dean "The Mattress Man' Trumbell

Dean "The Mattress Man' Trumbell.

To be a director is to unleash one's fury in frustrating phone calls with producers, and to also stand toe-to-toe in-person with those whose perceived incompetence may be threatening the entire operation. Plus, it does not hurt to hold a little pizazz themselves - as a filmmaker versed in showmanship is sure to know how to explain what he is searching for. Meaning the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's mattress store-owning/extortionist/commercial star Punch-Drunk Love character - no matter how villainous - would be a director who would prefer to be feared, rather than loved.

NEXT: The 10 Most Memorable Characters In Paul Thomas Anderson Movies, Ranked