Paul Thomas Anderson has “secret” social media profiles “all over the place”

The ‘Licorice Pizza’ director - who has Pearl, 16, Lucille, 11, Jack, nine, and Ida, eight, with partner Maya Rudolph - thinks it's “hilarious” that he tried to monitor his daughter’s Instagram incognito however she sussed him out but still has them to “be aware of what’s happening in the world” to keep up to date with trends for his film career.

The 51-year-old movie maker told IndieWire: “I have secret accounts all over the place. It’s hilarious. When my daughter was younger, she got Instagram and I tried to get a secret account to follow her. She was like, 'It’s not a secret. I’m seeing you.' I was like, 'Oh well.'

"The only way you’re going to film right now is to be aware of what’s happening in the world.”

The director admitted "breaking through" was much more difficult in his early career but the social media age has opened more doors for people.

He said: “I remember when I started out, it was impossible to break through. You used to put a trailer up in front of a movie and it was a nightmare. You had to go through the MPAA to get it approved, you had to get it approved by the studio, you had to go through all these hoops. Then you weren’t even guaranteed that it was going to be in front of a movie you wanted to be in front of.

"Now we have the ability to just put stuff out there — Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, any f****** place. You can just do it. The joys of that are so extreme.

"We’ve depended upon that particularly for these last few films to make people aware of where they can see it and how they can see it in a certain way. Without it, imagine the amount of money you have to spend to let people know where they see it.

"I don’t see how you can participate in getting a film out in the world without understanding how to get to people.”