Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master: 1950s new religion

Sponge · **Posted:** Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:23 am

Interesting...

Anderson working on 'Master'
Philip Seymour Hoffman attached to star in film
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111801 ... egoryId=13

Quote:

"There Will Be Blood" writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson is working on his next project, a period drama to star Philip Seymour Hoffman as a founder of a new religious organization in the 1950s. The project is set up at Universal, which will make a decision about whether to greenlight the pic, with a $35 million budget, once Anderson delivers a finished script.Hoffman, who has played supporting roles in most of Anderson's past films, this time will be at the center, playing "the Master," as in "master of ceremonies," a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952. The core is the relationship between the Master and Freddie, a twentysomething drifter who becomes the leader's lieutenant. As the faith begins to gain a fervent following, Freddie finds himself questioning the belief system he has embraced, and his mentor.
The drama does not so much scrutinize self-started churches like Scientology or the Mormons, as much as it explores the need to believe in a higher power, the choice of which one to embrace and the point at which a belief system graduates into a religion.

Anderson's frequent collaborator, JoAnne Sellar, is the producer.

Hoffman made his breakthrough in the cast of Anderson's "Boogie Nights" and has also appeared in the Anderson-directed "Hard Eight," "Punch-Drunk Love" and "Magnolia."

Neither the studio nor reps for Anderson or Hoffman would comment.

Also:
http://www.cinematical.com/2009/12/02/p ... -religion/
and...
http://www.collider.com/2009/12/02/deta ... lead-role/
and...
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/P-T-Ande ... 15964.html

Quote:

It doesn't take an idiot to see that the film is a veiled reference to Scientology, which also "coincidentally" began in 1952. According to the article, the film will not so much criticize the religion as much as it will call into question the need for people to believe in a higher being (expect "Religion is the opiate of the people" to be mentioned at least once). No matter what efforts they take to dampen controversy, however, don't expect Tom Cruise or John Travolta to hop on as executive producers. They are probably too busy fighting off Xenu's evil forces anyway.

^lol

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=26410

Quote:

According to Anderson, it's not aiming to take a stab at the likes of Scientology (we bet they'll find some way to take offense and write letters, though)

^ double LOL.
It is interesting that media recognizes the cult's prenchant for pre-emptive baawwww.

Wieber · **Joined:** Tue May 23, 2006 10:57 pm **Posts:** 8449

You can take this picture,

move the headline in it down and put above it,
Anderson working on 'Master'
Philip Seymour Hoffman attached to star in film

Don Carlo · **Joined:** Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:20 am **Posts:** 8169

I will pay to see this movie.

Sponge · **Posted:** Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:14 am

So This New Paul Thomas Anderson Movie Is Definitely About Scientology, Right?
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/20 ... nders.html

All Hoffman needs to look like L.Ron is to comb his hair back (with some ginger added), add few kidney spots and stick some rotting pegs in his mouth.
Without prosthetics, I think he looks a bit more like L.Ron Jr. (Nibs).

Sponge · **Posted:** Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:26 pm

2/01/2010
Has Paul Thomas Anderson's Untitled Religious Drama Script Leaked?
http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/02 ... itled.html

Script Review: Untitled, by P.T. Anderson
http://forizzer69.wordpress.com/2010/01 ... -anderson/

Snippet...

Quote:

PLOT SYNOPSIS: Freddie, a young man in his mid-20s, has his appendix burst. Not a man too concerned for family, he abandoned his routes after a falling out with his 16 year old girlfriend (he was an adult at the time) and found his calling with the Navy. However because of this medical problem, he can no longer handle the rigorous tasks the Navy calls upon their men. Isolated and looking for a new reason to continue living, Freddie becomes an alcoholic at the snap of finger; so much so that he brews his own ale — an ale so strong that, when in southern US, a poor immigrant worker drinks ‘an unbalanced quantity’, goes into convulsions and is assumed to have died while Freddie scampers away from the site.

Afraid of being caught, Freddie hops aboard the first vessel he spots. Half drunk out of his mind, half worried for his life and half looking for work, this type of calculation indicates the mess that is Freddie. Aboard the ship, a man that goes by Master (the role Philip Seymour Hoffman is set to portray and who is an allegorical L. Ron Hubbard) begins to guide Freddie. He asks him odd questions in an attempt to rid him of his dependencies. This is where they begin to bond which snowballs into a far more friendly affair.

Master has a family — a wife and four children (three daughters, one about to get married, and a son) — and a group of followers that adhere to everything he says. He’s also skeptical of strangers, which allows for this generally composed character to have moments of frantic uncertainty. It will be vastly interesting to see what Philip Seymour Hoffman does with the role because it’s undeniably his most diverse to date.

Interesssstinggggg

brownjedi · **Posted:** Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:32 pm

Quote:

a charismatic intellectual

It cant be about Elcon given this description of the Master!

Oswald2001 · **Joined:** Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:13 pm **Posts:** 70

PSH could do a great job as Elron.

Just as long as he doesn't play it sympathetically due to bowing to CULT pressure.

tom_ · **Posted:** Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:02 am

As a co-producer and technical advisor for THE BRIDGE film, I hope this news is true.

And come to think of it, PSH would be ideal as HUB. He can do eccentric roles with great depth and keenly assumes the characters he portrays.

tp

Sponge · **Posted:** Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:38 pm

Universal Passes on Paul Thomas Anderson’s Scientology Movie
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/20 ... rsons.html

Hurray! PTA’s scientology take-down movie THE MASTER finds home
http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/movie-n ... s-home.php

PTA Taking River Road On Religion Pic With Phil Hoffman And Jeremy Renner?
http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/pta-tak ... my-renner/

MTV:
Jeremy Renner Joins Paul Thomas Anderson's Religious Cult Movie
http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/03/17/je ... the-maste/

Looks like Paul Thomas Anderson is really determined to get this movie off the ground.

Sponge · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 6:47 am

There's been much reporting recently on this proposed movie, mainly about whether it is on or off and about casting etc, but I've basically not been arsed since there are much more important things going on and there's little in this that sparks any useful discussion as yet.
Anyway, here's an article.....

Will Scientologists declare war on Paul Thomas Anderson's 'The Master'?
http://www.seattlepi.com/movies/421536_ ... 65823.html

Quote:

Scientology's most advanced followers allegedly believe in a 75-million-year-old alien named Xenu. They shirk modern psychiatry and seek happiness by reducing their "thetan" levels. Over the years, they've grown into an international multimillion dollar organization accused of intimidating their enemies with scare tactics and pushing the law to its limits in the name of self-preservation, earning a reputation for shadowy, cult-like dealings that once famously earned them comparison to the Mafia by Time Magazine. Perhaps even worse, they're responsible for the bizarre celebrity spectacle that is Tom Cruise. But did the Church of Scientology have enough far-reaching power to block Universal from green lighting the latest Paul Thomas Anderson opus?

....more in article link...

brownjedi · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 5:18 pm

Quote:

intellectual

See, this is not about lron at all....

J. Swift · **Posted:** Fri Jun 11, 2010 5:21 pm

LRH would be a great character in a movie that treated him fairly. He was one of life's magnificent bastards. CoS did some short videos set in 1950 where LRH has his back to the camera as his people tell him that all of the letters are pouring in and the demand for DMSMH is skyrocketing. These videos were accurate. However, I would start the movie somewhere else. If the film gets the first three scenes right, it will own the audience.

I have been a critic and backchannel guy long enough to know exactly why people, even the critics, are fascinated by LRH. Hell, UA and Cruise should do the film. Done correctly, it could retool LRH. Fortunately, CoS is devoid of imagination and does not see the perfect play to make. It is not the Tech, the Basics, or the Ideal Orgs. The perfect play is to make a Hollywood movie and tell LRH's story straight up. Get the central scenes right and it would be a killer movie with a big box office. CoS has never understood its own Founder. DM has sanitized LRH into a fictional Clark Kent type of character when that was not LRH.

I would love to storyboard this movie. I can think of twelve central scenes that are crucial. If the timeline begins in 1952, the film has missed six of the central short scenes.

I think Reese Witherspoon is perfect for Mary Sue.

I would be sure to keep Hoffman dragging out incomprehensible lines ever so often: "Ahh, we, ahh, factually. And then the History of Man, the, ahh, bivalve, jaw pain, turns on and runs out, uhh, cigarette smoke, that sort of thing, people fighting the common houseplant, dispersal of flows, ahh, mock up and the destroy, ahh, power sources...."

Actors will be prettier than the real thing. BTW, "Quick! Hide the booze! Ron and Mary Sue are here!"

/////

Wieber · **Joined:** Tue May 23, 2006 10:57 pm **Posts:** 8449

The film that's being made will be an American Hollywood movie. It will probably be about ninety minutes long. It will most likely use Hollywood story structure. If all of that is the case scientology will have little to worry about even when Philip Seymour Hoffman pulls of a masterful job of portraying the character based on L. Ron.

From the plot synopsis shown the movie that will be made will not be anything at all like what J. Swift has in mind. For a film like that to work it needs to be about two and a half to three hours long and made in the style of an Italian movie where the plot is dropped out, characterization is emphasized and there are many little vignettes going on as the film progresses. The Italians do that very well. Making it at Cinecittà would add a much deeper dimension to it.

It will be interesting to see how the office of special affairs (OSA) works very hard to deep six this project.

RedPill · **Joined:** Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:33 am **Posts:** 1362

There is another possible version of the LRH movie ... it would be done as a parody, it need not run longer than 90 minutes, and the title would be
"The Clamfather". LRH would be Don Vito, DM would be Michael, Pat Broeker would be Alfredo, not sure which character would be Virgil Solozzo, but I'm sure we could come up with somebody to fit into that role.
Of course, Ken Moxon could be shoe-horned into the Tom Hagen role somehow.

Pete

Simonymous · **Joined:** Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:48 am **Posts:** 1156

You guys are way off. If they REALLY wanted to capture the spirit of Scientology's leadership, they would cast Southpark's Terrance and Phillip as Miscavige and Tommy Davis!

Except Terrance and Phillip are likeable and bright, in spite of all the farting and laughing.

Carry on, never mind!

Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master: 1950s new religion

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