A new, stress-inducing trailer for "The Master" has emerged providing moviegoers with the first tantalizing look at Philip Seymour Hoffman's religious prophet.
The film marks Paul Thomas Anderson's first since 2007's "There Will Be Blood." There's a teensy bit of pressure as the "Boogie Nights" auteur's examination of the early days of the oil business was regarded by many critics as the finest film of the last decade.
He's certainly got a whooper of a topic, tackling a religion that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Church of Scientology, the controversial faith practiced by his "Magnolia" star Tom Cruise and other Hollywood leading lights.
Also read: ‘The Master’: Paul Thomas Anderson Reaches Out to Scientologist Tom Cruise (Exclusive)
In Anderson's telling, Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd, a charismatic writer who launches a new religion called "The Cause." He also, from the looks of the latest footage, seems an awful lot like the full-figured, nattily dressed Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Joaquin Phoenix plays an emotionally unstable follower of Dodd's and Amy Adams is his sweet as peaches wife.
Warning: the pulsing music by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood may induce seizures.
The film co-stars Laura Dern and Jesse Plemons and will be released by The Weinstein Company on October 12.
What do you think — is Hoffman a dead-ringer for Hubbard?