There's good news and bad news tonight. The potentially bad news is that the glut of commenters who insist that Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming drama, "The Master" isn't actually called that are wrong according to Box Office Mojo. The good news, as promised by Annapurna Pictures, the financiers and producers of the film, is that it has nabbed an October release date.
The Weinstein Company has now officially set the drama for an October 12th bow in limited release (which will likely expand as we get deeper into the Oscar season). Could this mean an early appearance on the fall film festival circuit? It's completely possible. PTA's "There Will Be Blood," mostly skipped those rounds in 2007, though it appeared briefly at Telluride and Fantastic Fest (at the former festival they only showed clips).
Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master" is a 1950s-set drama centered on the relationship between a charismatic intellectual known as "the Master" (Hoffman) whose faith-based organization begins to catch on in America, and a young drifter who becomes his right-hand man (Phoenix). Scored by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and also featuring Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Madisen Beaty and Jesse Plemons ("Varsity Blues," TV's "Friday Night Lights"), "The Master" was once touted as a "scientology" film — something the producers and distributors have since shied away from. What is more likely the case is that, like PTA's adaptation of Upton Sinclair's "Oil!" for 'Blood,' the director has taken the L. Ron Hubbard story and used it as a similar launching pad to explore ideas of faith, hubris, and, based on the version of the script we read, megalomaniacal tendencies. Either way, this one is extremely high on our Most Anticipated 2012 list, and we cannot wait.