It’s not set in stone, but considering the news comes directly from the mouth of Paul Thomas Anderson we’re feeling pretty excited about it. The longtime fanpage/resource Cigarettes & Red Vines talked to Anderson at Fred Armisen’s Largo show last night and they “briefly spoke about various things and we can exclusively tell you, despite everything else circulating the net that it sounds like The Master is set to shoot sometime next month. More details about things hopefully soon.”
The timing makes a lot of sense. Jeremy Renner recently passed on “Battleship,” which starts shooting in August, to work on Anderson’s film and the window of opportunity for Philip Seymour Hoffman, set to play the cult leader, is quickly closing as he will head off to a directorial stint at Cate Blanchett’s Sydney Theater Company due to begin in October. Thought it was reported that Anderson was still fine tuning the script, we previously speculated that a late summer start wasn’t out of the question and it looks like it just may happen.
While Renner and Hoffman are in place, as we’ve previously reported, Reese Witherspoon was offered the role of The Master’s wife Mary-Sue, while Amanda Seyfried, Emma Stone and Deborah Ann Woll were being considered for the role of the daughter Elizabeth. However, if the August shoot date sticks, it pretty much puts both Seyfried and Stone out of contention for the role as they will both be busy shooting “The Girl With The Red Riding Hood” and “Friends With Benefits” respectively.
We’re guessing news will be forthcoming once the film’s start date gets firmed up, but it sounds very promising and we’re glad this seems to be finally getting in front of cameras. As you might recall, Universal passed on the project and River Road is footing the bill (the company that produced Terrence Malick’s “Tree Of Life” and Doug Liman’s “Fair Game”). Honcho Bill Pohlad also heads up the currently restructuring distributor Apparition, so it remains to be seen who will end up getting the film into theaters. Summit is handling “Fair Game” so it could very well end up at another indie house (though, Summit is hardly a small player these days).
