Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film, an untitled drama about a charismatic, pseudo-Scientological religious leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman, perhaps paging Paul Dano in There Will Be Blood), will get a boost from Friday Night Lights alum Jesse Plemons as the guru’s son. It’s spot-on casting; they’re very related-looking. That’s like if Daniel Plainview’s brothers were played by Blue Bloods-era Tom Selleck and the Pringles guy. The movie costars Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, and veteran character actor David Warshofsky. [Variety]
· Anticipation for the next Paul Thomas Anderson film is so high that even a blurry first look at some promotional art that was unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival marketplace will probably be enough to make your heart skip a beat. Click ahead for a brief look at the untitled film (previously called The Master), then stick around for more Buzz Break.
The Weinstein Company picked up Anderson’s next at Cannes; filming with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix is scheduled to being this summer.
[Cigarettes and Red Vines via /Film]
· What does Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin read every morning? Yahoo!, but just for the comments. [Atlantic Wire]
· Gus Van Sant’s Twilight audition didn’t go very well. “I was talking about the book, and really all I was saying was ‘OK, this is great, let’s go do it,’” he told MTV. “That was my pitch and I think they’re used to something else.” [MTV]
· Maggie Gyllenhaal has been added to the cast of Voice from the Stone, a supernatural thriller. [Variety]
· Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has joined the adaptation of Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas. He’ll play “a blind deejay who helps the titular hero uncover a Satanic plot.” Of course. [Variety]
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This could be fun. Deadline reports that Woody Allen will cast Roberto Benigni is his maybe-still-untitled Rome-set comedy filming this summer. Benigni — who was last seen onscreen in The Tiger and the Snow in 2005 — would join Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Penelope Cruz and Alec Baldwin in the cast. If cast, let’s hope he reacts to the news like this. [Deadline]
It’s official: Arnold Schwarzenegger will come back to theaters in Cry Macho. Deadline reports that CAA and QED International worked out a deal that will allow the latter company to shop the rights for the drama at the Cannes Film Festival next week. Schwarzenegger will get paid $12.5 million plus 25 percent of first dollar gross to play a washed up horse breeder who kidnaps his boss’ son. [Deadline]
The ‘is it opening or isn’t it’ question over the confusing release details of Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life appears to be definitively solved — at least for the time being: Icon Film Distribution says it’s officially not releasing the film on May 4 in the U.K. as reported. The curious legal battle over rights to the film has been detailed here, but in short, Tree of Life will debut at Cannes as planned. [Guardian]
If Gwyneth Paltrow’s acting, singing, and website proprietor careers don’t work out, she can always be Martha Stewart? Apparently. “Every food celebrity appeals to us as a surrogate family member,” said journalist Allen Salkin to the New York Post. “Martha is your crafty aunt, and so in the family of food celebrities, I could see Gwyneth as your slightly kooky but sweet sister.” OK, then! Paltrow’s new cookbook, My Father’s Daughter, is out in stores now. [NYP]
