Tagged: paul thomas anderson

Another teaser for “The Master”

Here’s another look at Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.” Much like the first teaser, it doesn’t reveal much of anything about anything. But it looks so, so, so good.

Okay, remember Philip Seymour Hoffman in Anderson’s “Boogie Nights”? Try to reconcile that actor and that performance with the very spare glimpse we get here of Hoffman. Separated by 15 years that feel like an eternity, the Hoffman and Anderson reuniting* for “The Master” are an Oscar-winning acting powerhouse and a glowing, ungodly behind-the-camera talent, respectively. Could Hoffman win all of the awards for this performance? Time will tell, but I’m going to say yes.

* – I know this isn’t their first film together since “Boogie Nights,” but you know what I mean.

Share

“The Master” has a release date

Paul Thomas Anderson’s long-rumored, long-awaited film “The Master” — which has nothing to do with Scientology, not at all, we promise — has a release date! It’s going to open on October 12. New Paul Thomas Anderson. This October. Mark your calendars accordingly, assuming you mark your calendars months in advance with movie release dates. [Box Office Mojo]

Share

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Scientology and Pynchon movies close to financing

Great news for fans of good things in cinema: Paul Thomas Anderson’s next two movies might have found financing. Vulture reports that “billionairess Megan Ellison, the 25-year-old daughter of Oracle boss Larry Ellison, appears to be coming to the rescue” of two PTA movies that have, oddly, not been able to find any financing.

The first is his untitled thinly-veiled-take-on-Scientology movie about a cult leader (likely to be played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his disciple (who was to be played by Jeremy Renner, who has since dropped out; Renner has been “buried in offers,” Vulture says, but it’s worth noting that he is also filming the fourth “Mission: Impossible” with Tom Cruise, so, there’s that). The other film is Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Inherent Vice.” Vulture says that Anderson has received Pynchon’s blessing and is already at work on a second draft of that script.

Ellison and her brother helped co-finance “True Grit,” and she is also co-financing “The Wettest Country in the World,” the John Hillcoat adaptation of the novel about Depression-era bootlegging. If she’s going to help Anderson make more movies, that’s phenomenal news; of course, the guy still might take his time, as he’s made just five films over the last dozen years. It’s pretty strange that he hasn’t been able to find financing for his movies, because his last film (2007′s “There Will Be Blood”) cost a mild $25 million and earned triple that amount worldwide, in addition to being an Oscar-winning masterpiece. But, hey, as long as somebody is ponying up.

Share

Paul Thomas Anderson wants to adapt Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice”

This is a match made in author/auteur heaven: Paul Thomas Anderson wants to adapt the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice into his next movie. The novel, which came out last year, is about a private investigator/pothead in Los Angeles in 1969. Anderson’s last film was 2007′s masterpiece “There Will Be Blood,” and his next project was supposed to be “The Master,” his not-at-all-inspired-by-Scientology story of a cult leader (to be played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his disciple (to be played by Jeremy Renner). That movie was indefinitely shelved after financing fell through (though the conspiracy theory-minded can’t help but notice that Hollywood is filled with rich, well-connected Scientologists who might have objected to such a film’s existence; you’d think people would want to finance a likely Oscar contender from an established Oscar-worthy director, who by the way makes profitable movies, with Oscar-recognized actors, right? But let’s just move on, nobody else seems to want to look into this very much for some reason). Anyway, this PTA/Pynchon deal would be stellar. Could he convince the reclusive author to cameo? We can dream.

Share