P.T. Anderson, Philip Seymour Hoffman Find Religion

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Thomas Anderson will be working together again, on a period drama that seems to suspiciously reflect The Church of Scientology. The as-yet untitled film, described by Variety, takes place in the 1950s with Hoffman playing "a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952." That is, incidentally, the same year L. Ron Hubbard launched Scientology, and you don't have to look too closely to see a resemblance between Hoffman and a younger Hubbard. However, Variety says the film will not be direct enough in its targeting to be expressly about Scientology or any other religion "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." At the center of the film is a relationship between "the Master" (Hoffman) and a young drifter named Freddie, who over time becomes the religion's second-in-command. Universal is pulling the strings on the film, and is waiting to see Anderson's script before deciding whether or not to give Anderson the go-ahead, and given the nature of the outline and some powerful people it could piss off, that may not be a sure thing. I hope so, of course, but the bigger the company, the less likely they are to rock the boat. With a reasonable budget, Universal might not be petrified by the possible backlash. Let's hope not.

Comments

[SEAN]

WOW my dream pairing comes true again (if it does go thru)

Amazing combo, I mean PSH will credit and has multiple times to having been launched into star status from his collabs with PT Anderson... they work great together.

And now he is looking to be the lead! This is good news, but WOW what subject matter, wonder if this will go thru, I mean a lot of Hollywood and Im sure Studio Execs are Scientology followers, so this seems like a long shot....

Hope it works out! I've been waiting since Doubt to see PSH back in action in another drama