Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Punch Drunk Love) is starting work on his new film The Master, $35 million period drama in which Hoffman will play a master of ceremonies nicknamed The Master, “a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952.” Variety has the scoop on plot details:
Anderson's last work was a definite condemnation on the extreme followers of religion and capitalism. It should be interesting to see whether The Master will be a philisophical sequel to There Will Be Blood, or not.The core is the relationship between The Master and Freddie, a twenty-something drifter who becomes the leader’s lieutenant. As the faith begins to gain a fervent following, Freddie finds himself questioning the belief system he has embraced, and his mentor.