According to the review (and much like the original synopsis), the film focuses on a guy in his ’20s called Freddie, who leaves the Navy after his appendix bursts. He swiftly becomes an alcoholic, and begins brewing his own beer, but when it almost kills an immigrant worker, he runs away to sea again, and falls under the spell of a man known as “Master” (Hoffman’s character), a family man who is also the leader of his own religion.
The reviewer says that “The script was mashed together rather haphazardly” (although considering the barely-coherent nature of his prose, something about a pot and a kettle comes to mind…), with missing dialogue and spelling and formatting errors present throughout, much like the leaked script for “Inglourious Basterds” a few years back.
It sounds like the script is also incomplete (literally sections that apparently say, “dialogue TBD”) with the key passage of the review goes, “the story itself is very peculiar. There’s sexual perversion in parts, extreme moments of eccentricity from Master, lots of interesting theories about life and the purpose of it, and even some humor slighting Scientology. If one expects this story to completely laugh at Scientology, think again. It’s more demonstrative of loneliness and why someone would find solace in the least likely of religions as opposed to a flagrant foul against the belief. It’s partially jumbled in what it means to preach, script-wise, but I believe that this will all find further clarity with a the script revisions that follows and the inevitable direction of the feature” (all sic) .
Our source was initially skeptical of this guy, and still isn’t 100% sure, there’s plenty here that smells fishy, not least the idea of the project being labeled “Untitled Scientology Project,” despite Variety’s original story saying that the “scrutiny isn’t specifically directed towards faith-based movements like Scientology or Mormonism that are newcomers compared to established religions.”
However, we’ve done a little digging, and there is at least a script matching Forizzer’s description starting to circulate. The question is whether or not it’s by Anderson, or by a fan with way too much time on their hands who simply read the initial logline and then fleshed it out with some details (and not a lot, it’s still very vague). Until we can take a look for ourselves, we’re going to take this with a gigantic pinch of salt, but it is there if you’re extremely curious.
Update: Perhaps in a bid to prove his authenticity, because he seems pretty annoyed by the skepticism we posted herein (he actually even references us), the author of The Cinematic Experience of Forizzer, has greatly fleshed out and updated his post, going to so far as to even scan a part of the script and post it (which we’ve placed here), plus adding a good 400-500 words of details.
And in fact, perhaps taking our criticism to heart, has added a lot more depth to his rather thin original review. Here’s a taste of what was missing originally.
Well, the film is about finding your identity with Master trying to cohort dowdy people to formulate some truth they can all abide by. They’re all misfits in a way. There’s a contrast when Master’s daughter gets married that shows a perhaps more ‘competent’ way of life; rejecting his new belief. It also shows how much one will strive to achieve a true reflection of self. Freddie gets tattoos after he’s gone through his trials to show anybody willing to peel away a single layer (of fabric) from him who he is and what he’s all about. He gets a tattoo “Too Tough To Die” to commemorate falling off a balcony at a cinema (while drunk), which takes an ironic turn when he lands next to a woman he seduced with his impertinence, heavily discussing Scientology at the time. She tells him she saved his life with that knowledge — she in turn stayed by his side at the hospital until he awoke.
