The Master (2012 film)

The Master
Directed by	Paul Thomas Anderson
Produced by	Paul Thomas Anderson Megan Ellison Daniel Lupi JoAnne Sellar
Written by	Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring	Philip Seymour Hoffman Joaquin Phoenix Amy Adams Laura Dern Jesse Plemons
Music by	Jonny Greenwood[1]
Cinematography	Mihai Malaimare Jr.[2]
Editing by	Dylan Tichenor
Studio	Annapurna Pictures Ghoulardi Film Company
Distributed by	The Weinstein Company
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35 million[3]

The Master is an upcoming drama film written, directed and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. It was given the green-light in May 2011, and began filming in June. The film will star Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Laura Dern. The plot involves a religion called "The Cause" which has been compared to Scientology.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Development 3.2 Filming 3.3 Music 4 Release 4.1 Marketing 5 Controversy 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External links

Plot

A charismatic intellectual (Hoffman) launches a faith-based organization following World War II. A drifter (Phoenix) becomes his right-hand man but as the faith begins to gain a fervent following, the drifter finds himself questioning the belief system and his mentor.^[4]

Cast

• Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd^[5]
• Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Sutton^[3]
• Amy Adams as Mary Sue Dodd^[6]
• Ambyr Childers as Lancaster's daughter^[7]
• Laura Dern^[8]
• Jesse Plemons as Lancaster's son^[9]
• David Warshofsky as a detective^[8]
• Lena Endre^[10]
• Rami Malek as Clark, son-in-law of Lancaster Dodd^[11]
• Madisen Beaty^[12]
• Fiona Dourif^[13]
• Joshua Close^[13]
• Patty McCormack
• Kevin J. O'Connor

Production

Development

It was first reported in December 2009 that Anderson had been working on a script about the founder of a new religious organization (described as being similar to Scientology) played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman.^[14][15] The project was initially set up with Universal but they eventually passed on the project along with The Weinstein Company because of problems with the script.^[14][15] It was later reported that River Road was in serious talks to fully finance the film.^[16] In February 2011 it was reported that Megan Ellison, daughter of billionaire Larry Ellison, would finance The Master and Anderson's adaption of the novel Inherent Vice.^[17] Harvey Weinstein later picked up the worldwide rights to the film.^[3][14]

Hoffman was reported as being cast in the lead role as Lancaster Dodd with Jeremy Renner starring opposite as Freddie Sutton.^[15][18] Renner was later reported as no longer being attached to the film and Joaquin Phoenix was officially cast in the role.^[3][17] Reese Witherspoon was reportedly offered the role of Mary Sue Dodd but Amy Adams was later cast.^[6][19] For the role of Dodd's daughter Amanda Seyfried, Emma Stone, and Deborah Ann Woll were all considered with the role eventually going to newcomer Ambyr Childers.^[7]

Filming

The film was originally to begin filming in August 2010 with Renner starring opposite Hoffman but was postponed indefinitely in September 2010.^[20][21] In May 2011, after securing financing, the film was given the green-light and filming began in early June 2011 in Vallejo and Sacramento.^[3][13][22] In late June filming took place at Hillside Elementary School in Berkeley.^[23] Mihai Malaimare Jr. served as cinematographer on the film making the film the first time Anderson did not work with Robert Elswit.^[2]

Music

Jonny Greenwood of rock band Radiohead is composing the score for the film.^[1][24] This is the second time Greenwood has scored an Anderson film, the first being There Will Be Blood.^[1]

Release

Marketing

The first teaser poster for the film appeared in May 2011 at the Cannes Film Festival with the title Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project.^[25] A second promo poster for the film appeared in November 2011 at the American Film Market with the same title.^[4]

Controversy

Upon the release of the script, comparisons of the religious organization called "The Cause" in the script were being made to Scientology.^[26][27][28] One reason was that Hoffman shares a physical resemblance to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard who served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and after his release from the hospital founded the belief system in 1952, the same year as the religion in the script.^[22][26][29] A production company official denied that the film was loosely based on Hubbard with producer JoAnne Sellar also denying any connection to Hubbard stating, "It's a World War II drama. It's about a drifter after World War II."^[22]

Several websites suggested that "important Hollywood Scientologists" objected to the project because they fear it might reveal too much about the faith and others even speculated that the Church of Scientology had enough power to stop Universal from green-lighting the film.^[22][29]

References

Bibliography

Montero, José Francisco. Paul Thomas Anderson. 2011. Ediciones Akal. http://www.akal.com/libros/Paul-Thomas-Anderson/9788446026211

External links

• The Master at the Internet Movie Database
• The Master at AllRovi

Films directed by Paul Thomas Anderson 1990s Hard Eight (1996) Boogie Nights (1997) Magnolia (1999) 2000s Punch-Drunk Love (2002) There Will Be Blood (2007) 2010s The Master (2012)