Here are some photos from the premiere of Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master at the Venice Film Festival. Naturally, Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman were the big stars on the red carpet, and they did the deed with aplomb. Phoenix looks very ready to earn his rep back, but I’m not sure about those (strategic?) grey stripes that are resting atop his temples. Sadly, Amy Adams was not on hand, and I bet producer Harvey Weinstein was kicking himself for not making her come just so that someone — anyone — would have to wear one of Georgina Chapman’s awful Marchesa dresses. You know, if I was a famous movie star with a lot of power, “absolutely NO Marchesa” would be one of my contract stipulations. I still can’t believe Kristen Stewart got wrangled into one of those hot messes. At this point, Joaquin and Philip have probably never been happier in their entire lives to not be a chick.

As for the premiere itself, things appeared to go quite well, and The Master is currently enjoying a 100% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator. If the full trailer is any indication, the movie will be a treat for critics of Scientology, and we’ve already heard that Tom Cruise “had issues” with the film after PTA gave him a private screening (they previously worked togeter in Magnolia, so PTA may have figured that Tom at least deserved a “heads up”). PTA himself has given a new interview to The Daily Beast, and he wants people to know that while the movie bears striking similarities to the CO$ origin story, that’s not all that’s going on. I think PTA was ultimately aiming to examine the lives of WWII vets and their reinsertion into society. Here are some excerpts:

On The Master‘s subject matter: Anderson freely acknowledges that this flamboyant character–a self-described author, sea captain, physicist, and philosopher-was inspired by L. Ron Hubbard. Once word of this leaked out, The Master immediately got tagged as Anderson’s “Scientology movie.” “I was naive,” the director says, somewhat ruefully. “I should have known that’s what people would latch onto.” But if you’re expecting to see an exposé of that controversial “religion,” you’ve come to the wrong movie. This is not to say Scientologists are going to like what they see. But Anderson, who gets a bit stressed when the subject comes up, finds himself “much more defensive and protective of [Scientology] than I would have thought.”

On Hoffman and Phoenix: He knew from the start he wanted Hoffman to play the Master, and his actor-friend was an integral part of the writing process. “He was my first audience. I’d hand him chunks and hear what he responded to.” For the longest time Anderson wasn’t even sure whose story it was. It was Hoffman who clarified it for him: “This is Freddie’s [Joaquin Phoenix's character] story.” He also had Phoenix in mind as he was writing, and he knew the actor would keep his writing from sounding too literary. “At a certain point, Joaquin is just incapable of faking it.” Anderson was amazed by Phoenix’s discipline on set. “He’s like Daniel [Day-Lewis], his level of concentration. He just got in character and stayed there-for three months he didn’t stop. Joaquin is very unpredictable. A lot of the time I didn’t know what he was going to do.” In one scene Freddie has to be restrained by a cluster of policemen. He laughs remembering the head of the stunt crew advising his men to take it easy on the star. “Six of these stunt guys couldn’t hold him down!”

[From The Daily Beast]

The entire interview is well worth reading, and at one point, PTA even laments that he wishes he possessed “more diversity as a filmmaker.” Wait, what? Another new revelation — PTA has recycled some of the unused scenes from There Will Be Blood for use in the The Master. This movie is sounding better and better with each passing newsbite.

Here’s some photos from the earlier photocall in Venice. These guys can’t wait for the film to be unleashed, right? Oh Harvey. Why you so sexy?

Photos courtesy of WENN

Paul Thomas Anderson’s rumored anti-Scientology film, The Master, has already been tickling the anti-CO$ and serious film audiences with two teaser trailers, one featuring Joaquin Phoenix’s lost disciple character and the other one showcasing Philip Seymour Hoffman’s charismatic yet menacing movement leader. Both trailers have established that the movie is set in the 1950s and revolves around a faith-based organization that is pretty much Scientology by a different name, “The Cause.” I especially appreciate the second trailer’s dialogue, including “I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, a theoretical philosopher, and above all, I am a man. A hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you,” which is totally L. Ron Hubbard under a different name, Lancaster Dodd. We’ve also heard that Anderson screened the movie for Tom Cruise, and Tom “had issues” with the movie. And for good reason! Check out the full-length trailer below, and you’ll see why Tom’s been throwing his cute little lift-throwing tantrums:

First off, PTA throws out a very clear signal that Joaquin’s on a ship (as in the origins of the Sea Org) as he and his disciples are told “upon your shoulders rests the responsibility of a post-war world.” Joaquin is further seduced by both Hubbard Dodd (metaphorically) and various women (literally), and then things grow more sinister with a critic saying “Good science, by definition, allows for more than one opinion, otherwise you merely have the will of one man, which is the basis for a cult.” Dodd’s wife is heard saying, “The only way to defend ourselves is to attack.” Still others tell the disciple, “He’s making all this up as he goes along, don’t you see that?” and “You are an everlasting spirit.” There’s more creepy footage of Joaquin’s character in the jail cell and also riding motorcycles with Dodd (a veiled reference to Cruise and Miscavige’s bro rides?) before he tries to make his escape.

Naturally, this trailer is only a taste of what is to come. The Daily Beast has provided a comprehensive chart (written by those who have read the full screenplay) of many, many similarities between PTA’s rendering of “The Cause” and Scientology. Just to name a few tidbits — alien invasions, prenatal memories, auditing (by a different name) and billion-year contracts — they’re all in there. If the CO$ thinks that they need a new PR strategy after Katie Holmes blew their roof off, well, they haven’t seen anything yet. This movie is sure to be an event.

Screencaps from YouTube; poster courtesy of AllMoviePhoto

The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, is down to the wire in terms of casting with shooting set to begin this fall and several key roles still technically up for grabs. There’s still been no firm decision for the part of Finnick Odair, but we definitely know it won’t be Robert Pattinson, and Garrett Hedlund is still very much a possibility. As for Johanna Mason, Mia Wasikowska and Zoe Aggeliki have been floated as candidates, but it looks like Jenna Malone is currently the front runner for that role. Now at least we have some (mostly) definite news about the very important part of Plutarch Heavensbee, the replacement Head Gamemaker who — if he’s lucky — will avoid the same fate as Seneca Crane. In all likelihood, Phillip Seymour Hoffman (who a lot of people were hoping would have played Haymitch Abernathy, but I think Woody Harrelson was perfect in the first movie) will play Plutarch. Here’s a mildly spoiler-laden announcement from E! Online, who says that the offer was made and has now been accepted:

The odds are definitely in Philip Seymour Hoffman’s favor!

Sources tell E! News exclusively that the Oscar winner has signed on to play Plutarch Heavensbee in Catching Fire, the much anticipated second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy.

“The deal was made right before the Fourth of July holiday,” one source said.

Lionsgate does not comment on casting until something is official. An announcement about Hoffman is expected to be released any day now. The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hoffman, 44, was offered the role on June 11.

Heavensbee is the new Head Gamemaker who may (or may not) be more loyal to reigning champ Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) than the diabolical President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

Catching Fire is set to start shooting in the fall with director Francis Lawrence replacing Gary Ross.

Hoffman was most recently seen on Broadway with The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield in the hit revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of Salesman.

[From E! Online]

Speaking of Phillip Seymour Hoffman (and for some reason, I always like to type his full name when possible), Kaiser thinks that the marketing for Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master “is going to have to be very, very careful” in light of all of the new information about CO$ being stirred up by the Katie Holmes-Tom Cruise divorce proceedings. I definitely agree, but at this point, the movie’s two excellent trailers have already set the stage, and there’s no turning back. It’s fairly obvious (especially from the stunning impression of L. Ron Hubbard on the part of Phillip Seymour Hoffman himself) that this movie is about Scientology. Hell, there probably doesn’t even need to be any more marketing of this movie at all aside from the odd poster. The crazy, damage-control antics of the CO$ will sell this movie on their own!

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN

I’m growing very excited about The Master, which will not only see Joaquin Phoenix’s grand return to non-douchetastic acting but will also bring one of my favorite directors, Paul Thomas Anderson, back to the big screen. Of course, I’ve been stoked about this movie ever since it was announced as a rumored anti-Scientology film. Then we saw the first trailer where Joaquin seriously brought his former intensity to the forefront again in the midst of fleeting glimpses of a creepy, foreboding film.

Of course, the first trailer (wisely) didn’t really tell us anything about the titular character and served to build suspense until further clues were revealed. Now there’s a new trailer that heavily features Philip Seymour Hoffman as the charismatic yet menacing cult leader who can only be L. Ron Hubbard by another name. Hoffman is so good in this trailer that it’s easy to see how Phoenix’s troubled character falls under his spell, and Amy Adams plays the Master’s wife. Now let’s check out this trailer and discuss below:

“I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, a theoretical philosopher, and above all, I am a man. A hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you.” Yep, that is totally L. Ron Hubbard with a few well-placed adjustments. Now if there was any further doubt at all that this movie is “loosely based” upon Scientology, Anderson has already screened the movie for Tom Cruise (they previously worked together in Magnolia, which was made during Tom’s period of CO$ inactivity). According to The Wrap, Tom “had issues” with the movie, which pretty much means that it pushes a lot of CO$ buttons.

(Confession time: I have a bit of a crush on Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), who scored this movie and has previously worked with Anderson on There Will Be Blood. Where Greenwood is involved, the score is destined to be great.)

Screencaps courtesy of YouTube

I know, I just did a George Clooney-related post a little bit ago, but now we have even more photos! And not just of Clooney – these are photos from the Venice Film Festival photo call for The Ides of March. Unfortunately, there’s no Gosdong (boo!). But there is some fashion porn happening with Evan Rachel Wood. All of a sudden, she’s giving me Cate Blanchett vibes. I know, I know, that comparison isn’t fair to either of them. But you can see a resemblance, right? And this Dolce & Gabbana suit looks like something Blanchett would wear (and work the hell out of). Does ERW pull it off? I think she does. I think Clooney thinks she does too:

Am I going to have to worry about Clooney and ERW? Er… I think I might. Evan once said in an interview that Clooney had come up to her and told her, “You’re really good at going from innocent to sexy in the drop of a hat.” And then he hired her for his movie. And then he invited her to Lake Como. And then… God knows.

More photos… I love Marisa Tomei, and I think she’s beautiful and she’s aging naturally. But she looks like hell here. Part of it is the fug dress, but part of it is just bad lighting and bad makeup.

Philip Seymour Hoffman!!!! I keep forgetting he’s in The Ides of March. He looks so hot. I would jump on him before Clooney. I’d jump on PSH before Ryan Gosling too, by the way.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Last month, we discussed Joaquin Phoenix’s return to acting with his prospective involvement in director/writer Paul Thomas Anderson’s (and somehow, until looking at the above photo, I never noticed how good looking he is) untitled religious drama that looked to present a disciple’s horrific experiences with a faith-based movement that very closely resembled Scientology. At that point, Philip Seymour Hoffman was tapped to play “The Master” while Phoenix was circling the role of the disciple who begins to question the cult-like ways of his faith. Now, Deadline has confirmed that both Phoenix and Hoffman are “locked” into their roles, and the Weinsteins have acquired Anderson’s project. Here are even more details:

The Weinstein Company has won a quiet but fevered bidding battle for worldwide distribution rights to the untitled next film by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film begins production June 13, with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix so far set to star. Megan Ellison is financing. It is Anderson’s first trip behind the camera since There Will Be Blood.

Hoffman and Phoenix are locked. As for the actresses, I’m told that Anderson is eyeing such women as Madisen Beaty (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) for a role, with Amy Adams, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo‘s Lena Endre and Laura Dern also mentioned as actresses Anderson is interested in. The auction was held at CAA headquarters late last week, with Fox Searchlight also squarely in the mix.

This is the project that Anderson has worked on for a long time, once under the title The Master. He has greatly overhauled the script and now, 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. The film is fully financed by Ellison’s Annapurna banner.

[From Deadline]

Considering what an amazing job that Anderson did with helming There Will Be Blood (that movie also took an interesting and very cynical view of religion and resulted in a Best Actor Academy Award for Daniel Day Lewis), this could do wonders for getting Joaquin Phoenix’s career back out of the gutter. As for the Scientology aspects of the faith-based movement at the center of the film, a few notes on Anderson’s ongoing script development indicate that the year 1952 shall be of the utmost importance, which, interestingly enough, was the year that Dianetics really took off and L. Ron Hubbard founded the Hubbard College to train auditors. While the movie obviously won’t mention Scientology by name, I think it’s pretty clear that Anderson was motivated to write this script to expose what happens behind the scenes when a movement transforms into a religion. And the resulting fallout should be rather delicious.

Photos courtesy of WENN and AllMoviePhoto

Philip Seymour Hoffman was the cover boy for this weekend’s New York Times Magazine, and the article is delicious for a Hoffman-head such as myself. In the lengthy interview, Hoffman talks about his early career, his theatre work, his family and new movie Doubt (also starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams). While interviewed, Hoffman was directing a play in London called “Riflemind” written by Andrew Upton, Cate Blanchett’s husband. And it’s no coincidence.

[Hoffman] was sitting in the fifth row of the audience at Trafalgar Studios in the West End, where he was directing “Riflemind” (a play about an ’80s rock band that may or may not reunite after 20 years)…[he] took a gulp of coffee from a large cup that he was holding in a brown paper bag. He turned his attention to the stage, where two actors were rehearsing a sex scene. “Riflemind,” which unfolds over a weekend, is a self-conscious study in wounds: long-simmering battles are reignited and secrets are revealed. The play has a predictable middle-aged-angst narrative that is somewhat glamorized by its rock-star milieu: the drugs may be stronger, but the emotions are oddly detached.

Hoffman’s fascination with “Riflemind” — he directed it in Sydney, Australia, last year and, when we met, had been in London for several weeks preparing this production — can be explained by both his commitment to theater and by the fact that the play is written by Andrew Upton, the husband of Cate Blanchett. Hoffman met Upton and Blanchett when he appeared with her in “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” “On that movie, we shot only one or two days a week,” Hoffman recalled. “Much of the time, I was in Rome with Cate and Andrew. I have a hard time having fun, but that was heaven. And I must really like Andrew — my girlfriend, who is in New York, is about to have our third child, and I am here.” Hoffman paused. “I don’t get nervous when I’m directing a play. It’s not like acting. If this fails, I wouldn’t be as upset by it.”

[From The NY Times]

Why aren’t they in more films together? Cate Blanchett and Philip Seymour Hoffman should just make movies together, they’re both so lovely. The article goes in-depth with Hoffman’s theatre experiences, and he makes an interesting comment about his time playing Jamie Tyrone in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” on Broadway – Hoffman says “That nearly killed me.” Hoffman-head trivia: Jason Robards was the actor to originate the role of Jamie Tyrone on Broadway; Hoffman and Robards worked together on my favorite Hoffman film, Magnolia. It was Robards’ last film role.

The main part of the article is about Doubt, and it’s obvious from the interviews that Doubt author John Patrick Shanley and Meryl Streep love Hoffman.

Hoffman is not a carefree person; he resolutely refuses to live lightly. “Phil is hard to know,” John Patrick Shanley [Doubt’s author] said. “Phil and his longtime girlfriend, Mimi [O’Donnell], came to a party at my house, and he had on three coats and a hat. I said, ‘Take off one of your coats; it’s hot in here.’ His girlfriend said, ‘He’ll maybe take it off in a half-hour.’ It’s such an obvious metaphor, but Phil has a protective cocoon that he sheds very slowly. It takes him a while to make friends with his environment. And yet you know the men he plays the minute you meet them.”

Still, he knows he will not be remembered for his real-life persona but rather for the characters he has chosen to embody. In “Doubt,” for instance, which was originally a play, he is a Catholic priest who may or may not have been inappropriate with a young male student. He is suspected and accused by the principal of the parish school, a nun named Sister Aloysius, played by Meryl Streep. “If I asked 10 people on the subway who I should cast for the older nun, they’d all say Meryl,” Shanley told me. “But I didn’t know what Phil would do with the part of Father Flynn, and that intrigued me. I did know that he would make Meryl sweat, that she would be up against someone of equal intelligence. Meryl is a street fighter, and she schemes as an actress — she wants to win the scene. Phil won’t play that way. He won’t engage. Before their big confrontation scene, Meryl would be muttering ‘I’m going to kick his butt’ for the entire crew to hear. She’d look at him and say, ‘I know you did it.’ And Phil would just laugh and say, ‘Meryl’s always trying to get in my head.’ ”

[From The New York Times]

Doubt looks really good, and I’m sure it will rack up several Oscar nominations, most likely for Hoffman and Streep. Next up for Hoffman is another stage role – he’s going to be playing Iago to John Ortiz’s Othello. Hoffman has a really good line, one I wish more actors would say: “I’ve never been all that interested in playing Hamlet” Hoffman also has an interesting interpretation of the characters: “To my mind, Iago actually loves Othello. And it’s hard not to think of Obama when you read ‘Othello’ now.” Yikes. I hope other people won’t draw those parallels.

Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman are shown on 12/7/08 at the NY premiere of Doubt. Credit: WENN

Michelle Williams, 27, made her first red carpet appearance since her daughter’s father, Heath Ledger, died of a prescription drug interaction on January 22. People Magazine reports that she made a last-minute decision to fly to Cannes to promote her film, Wendy and Lucy. She wore “vintage Chanel Haute Couture” to the premiere of the film last night, and appeared refreshed and happy at a photocall with her co-stars today.

“It was decided on Monday night that she could come to Cannes, and she got on the next plane to arrive just in time to get dressed and come to our premiere,” said a rep for Wendy and Lucy. “She came in and had a long nap and then came to the screening.”

Williams, 27, was radiant in a vintage Chanel Haute Couture dress. She will remain in Cannes at least through Friday night to promote another festival movie in which she appears, Synecdoche, New York, before flying back to the United States to resume filming a Martin Scorsese movie in Boston.

[From People]

Williams is the star of the film Wendy and Lucy, which IMDB describes as “a narrative feature about woman whose life is derailed en route to a potentially lucrative summer job. When her car breaks down, and her dog is taken to the pound, the thin fabric of her financial situation comes apart, and she is lead through a series of increasingly dire economic decisions.” Williams’ performance has been well reviewed. Cinematical notes that she didn’t attend the screening for the film, and that it is thought that she attended the screening for Adoration next door.

I love her hair like that, it’s lovely in soft controlled waves. She looks beautiful and relaxed, and this seems like a good time for her to resume her career and start making public appearances again.

Also shown at the photocall are Samantha Morton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener. Thanks to WENN.

I loved her in “My Cousin Vinnie.” Marisa Tomei is one of my favorite underrated celebs. When you have an Oscar at home next to your bed stand you can pretty much do as you please. In effort of not letting the man get her down, she once stole a band aid.

“She tells the New York Daily News, “I have stolen recently… Band-Aids! There were five Band-Aids in the pack, and I got a sticker shock at the price, so I just grabbed one, which was all I needed.”

[New York Daily News Via Starpulse]

She defended her actions as preparation for her latest role as a thief in “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” Marisa bravely took on the movie in which she has a topless scene. Her co-stars include Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke. The plot involves two brothers who decide to rob their parents’ jewelry store. They come to the conclusion that they get the loot and their parents will get insurance money and everyone wins. She has already asked her family toskip seeing the film due to her sex scenes in her role as the wife of Hoffman’s character and mistress of Hawke’s.

“I’m grown up now, so I guess it’ll really hit home. I spoke to mom about it the other day and I said, ‘I don’t know if you really want to come to this or if you want to see it.’ I’d rather you didn’t. ‘She said, ‘We heard already, we know about it’. ‘Having the Sidney factor balances it out. I felt even more comfortable than I did just acting fully clothed. I seem to tap into these kinds of women, the ones you call ‘slut’.”

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Marissa at the Project ALS Tomorrow is Tonight 10th Anniversary fundraiser on October 16th. Image thanks to PR Photos.

Philip Seymour Hoffman has won the Academy Award for best actor for his work in Capote. He’ll always be the camerman Scotty in Boogie Nights to me.

So far the NYT is three for three with their Oscar predictions.