Philaflava.com ::

Paul Thomas Anderson is truly getting back to work. Weג€™ve known that he is prepping two scripts, one based on the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice, and the other a slight reworking of PTAג€™s own original ג€˜religious dramaג€™ that has been said to be influenced by Scientology and once went by the title The Master.

Now we know that The Master is definitely going to be his next film. (Though ג€˜The Masterג€™ is almost certainly not the final title, Iג€™m going to use that to refer to the film here.) Harvey Weinstein has purchased worldwide rights to the film, which is already financed by Megan Ellisonג€™s Annapurna Productions. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix are confirmed for the two key roles, and the film will shoot starting June 13. Celebrate after the break.
Deadline says that the old script for The Master has been somewhat reworked, and offers this new recap:

Hoffman stars as a man who returns after witnessing the horrors of WWII and tries to rediscover who he is in post-war America. He creates a belief system, something that catches on with other lost souls.

That sounds like a deliberate step away from the much more overtly Scientology-influenced earlier draft. (And, remember, part of the reason that Universal pulled out of financing that version was that the script at the time was said to have some problems.) Weג€™d previously reported that Philip Seymour Hoffman would be Lancaster Dodd, ג€œa charismatic intellectualג€ and the guy known as The Master, while Joaquin Phoenix was likely to play Freddie Sutton, ג€œan alcholic drifter who becomes right-hand man [to The Master] only to begin questioning his manipulative mentor.ג€ Are those character descriptions still accurate? To be honest, we donג€™t know. If youג€™ve got the latest, significantly reworked draft of the script, weג€™d love to read it.

Madisen Beaty and Amy Adams are mentioned as possible actress options, as are Laura Dern and Lena Endre. Obviously, Harvey Weinstein will be triumphantly touting this one at Cannes, where it will doubtless attract more actors. Weג€™ll know more soon, but for now just enjoy the fact that a new PTA film will be shooting in five weeks.

So, Paul Thomas Anderson's 'The Master' Has Been Shot In 65mm (Not IMAX)
News .by Kevin Jagernauth | January 12, 2012 | 3 Comments .

Way back in April, before lensing started on Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master," word leaked out that the director was shooting test footage with a 65mm camera, the same used by Stanley Kubrick on "2001: A Spacy Odyssey" -- and then, not much was heard after that. Well, it looks like those tests went well, as the word around the Twittersphere (thank you Ice Cube) is that Anderson has indeed shot some of the film in the format (the movie is said to be a mix of 35mm and 65mm).

Directors Andrew Stanton and Brad Bird were chatting back and forth on the social media site this afternoon about the plus size format, with the former telling the latter, " 'The Master' is indeed in 65. They nearly lost a camera shooting in the Bay." And while 65mm is generally associated with IMAX these days, Bird clarified, "Pretty sure 'Master' is NOT in IMAX. Shot in 65 though...will look amazing, I'm sure."

Not to get too wrapped up in technical mumbo jumbo, essentially the negative used for IMAX is much taller than traditional 65 mm, leading to a 1.44:1 aspect ratio (which is why IMAX screens are so tall). Regular 65mm is shorter with an aspect ration of 2.20:1 ("The Sound Of Music," "Lawrence Of Arabia" and yes, '2001' among many others were presented in that format). It also should be noted, that 35mm film can be blown up to 65mm without a loss of film grain, so we presume that's what Anderson will be doing.

The big question is, how many cinemas these days can handle the format. With digital projectors now the norm (even at major film festivals), we imagine the number of cinemas with projectors and screens that can handle a 65mm print is pretty small. IMAX screens and projectors won't work because they are oriented for a horizontal pulldown (ie. top to bottom) so don't expect to see it there either. Most of us will likely see it in some kind of digital conversion, which is a shame when seeing that grand format from a print is pretty beautiful.

At any rate, it's more to keep us guessing about a film that is keeping its secrets locked up tight. "The Master" is slated to come out sometime this year, but when and where -- your guess is as good as ours.

EMCEE DARTH MALEK wrote:hire a third party editor

EMCEE DARTH MALEK wrote:PSH is sposed to be L ron hubbard & j phoenix is his partner. I can't imagine there will be a positive spin on them. Spiritual successor to the church of the third revelation i'm thinking.

uh zip zoom wrote:that teaser is fucking awesome.

Gregg Popabitch wrote:i so want to see this.

LilLeftBrain wrote:^^ditto ditto

Tommy Bunz wrote:Semi-related to this: Anyone that's interested in this but hasn't read the New Yorker article on Scientology should do so. It's Paul Haggis' (director of Crash) first hand account of his experiences in the "religion". Really long but the best thing I've ever read on the subject.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011 ... act_wright