Judging by his usual work patterns, we’re not expecting Paul Thomas Anderson to return anytime soon after The Master, but it’s nice to know he’s chipping away at something. One of the most probable is his adaptation of Thomas Pynchon‘s 1970s-set detective novel Inherent Vice, but we’ve gone the whole year without hearing an update on the Robert Downey Jr.-led feature. Thankfully the director provided some more brief details at his Venice premiere of The Master.
Speaking with Empire, Anderson provided some comparisons to the story of pothead private detective Larry “Doc” Sportello as he wades through the druggy haze of 1969 Los Angeles and attempts to help an old flame, and it sounds like he’s going a very different route from his last few features. He compared the film to a “Cheech and Chong movie” and said the process of adapting the author’s work is “just gonna be great and, hopefully, fun.” Not much to go on, but I’m looking forward for PTA to exercise his comedic side more.
Anderson said it’s “hopefully not long” before he gets Vice to the screen and also joking, “I’d like to have a few years of being more productive. But we’ll see.” I’d have to imagine this film is at least years down the line, but for now we can be happy we’ll see a new project from him this very month. Check out more from The Master below with snippets from the press conference (where Joaquin Phoenix didn’t look to thrilled to be at) and red carpet for its official Venice premiere, and read our take on the film here.
The Master arrives on September 14th.