The Master - Spoiler-Free Thread

[Reelist]

boogie nights is NOT a biopic of John C Holmes or a "metaphor" for john c holmes. magnolia is NOT about the fucking bible. chere mill is NOT about whatever that oil tycoon he based it on or whatever else he's stolen from real life.

and PDL isn't about that guy who found the healthy choice airline miles loophole. Or, not that particular guy. Fuck that guy.

[tpfkabi]

Sounds like the Citizen Kane battle.

[Reelist]

They can't call it a Scientology film because they'd get fucking sued. Not to say that they'd want to, because that label would definitely affect people's perception of the film, but I guarantee PTA had to change certain details pointing to Scientology in the script to even get this financed. Ok, ok, it's not 'about' Scientology, but the foundation is there and it's everyone else's job to connect the dots.

[Sleepless]

Yes, and CMBB is about George Bush.

It's not about Scientology

[Reelist]

I said that it's not, but the connections are obvious. When it was going around as "the untitled Scientology project" it made me cringe, because he doesn't do anything that can be so easily pigeonholed and the subject doesn't interest me. If you can read the script that's out and think that it's not alluding to Scientology at all, that there are no parralels to that religion, then you're stupid.

[Jeremy Blackman]

That's true, and we should keep that in mind. It's not as if this has absolutely nothing to do with Scientology. Let's not exaggerate; we can handle complex concepts like this. There will probably be plenty of trivial parallels, and perhaps even some somewhat nontrivial parallels. There might be even strong parallels with religion in general.

I haven't read the script, and I guess none of us has read the updated script, but I think the CMBB-Bush connection (nonexistent) is a far cry from the potential Master-Scientology connection. A better analogy, as we've covered, might be the the relationship CMBB has with oil drilling.

[Sleepless]

I don't think that this should necessarily be considered a spoiler, but just in case I find myself on the wrong end of a drunken Pubrick later, consider this ample warning...

Edited before posting (but couldn't bring myself to remove the above): I actually probably deviated into more SPOILER territory than originally intended. You have officially been warned.



I've read the early version of the script. There may be parallels to Scientology, but at no point did it seem to be about Scientology. To me personally, it seemed like an extension of the fundamental Christians depicted in Chere Mill. Really, though, it's more a generic cult. This film will speak more about religion in general, rather than Scientology specifically. I don't want to call it satire, but in a way that's what I took it to be. He's holding up a mirror to all organized religions, but making it more accessible and palatable to the masses by having it focus on a small group, a cult. That's my take on it anyway. But no, I haven't read the shooting version of the script.

[Jeremy Blackman]

I wish I could read that, but I'm not going to read spoilers. I'm going to assume you said that I'm 100% right.

[O.]

In terms of describing the film, wouldn't it be safest and most broadly accurate to say it's about cultism and say that's that?

Scientology is an extremely hot topic right now, and the film's association with Scientology has already been established, you can't run away from that fact. Now, whether the film is about Scientology or not doesn't really matter, because (unless the updated script is a completely different film) the similarities and parallels are enough -- enough to give the entertainment media/popular media something to light aflame, something controversial that's contemporary that more than anything, leads.

In the case of The Master? It sells. So, I don't think that's a bad thing. It will have people talking about the film, that may have otherwise not have even bothered to see it. I'm sure that if it ends up labeled as "that movie about Scientology," it won't last. It will stand up as a film about something more than just a fad cult.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Again all I've read is the synopsis, but I do know that L. Ron Hubbard's life and the founding of his religion was the starting point. I think that's a more significant connection to Scientology than only the cult connection.

When people see the film, they will realize that it's not "about" Scientology, and I don't think they will feel deceived. Should be fine.

[Jeremy Blackman]

I think we should probably end this conversation until we see the movie.

[©brad]

I think we should probably end this conversation until we see the movie.

 

[Pozer]

 

[Fernando]

"At last night's Ides of March party Phillip Seymour Hoffman -- a.k.a. "Philly" -- insisted that Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, which he just finished filming, is "not a Scientology film." But I've read an early draft and...

to me, that was the real news, a very good one.

[Stefen]

I hope it's more about World War II.

When I read THIS

Director Paul Thomas Anderson, whose films have earned him five Oscar nominations, is looking for several hundred background extras for a scene he plans to shoot next month on Oahu’s North Shore.

It will be part of a movie he’s currently directing in Los Angeles that stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Veteran local casting agent Margaret Doversola and Hawaii Actors Network founder Teddy Wells have set up an open casting call for 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday at the Aloha Lounge at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Bring a photograph of yourself but be prepared to have additional photographs taken that day. And if they like you, be ready to cut your hair.

The filmmakers have said very little about the project beyond the scene they tentatively plan to shoot Aug. 12, Doversola said. They want 100 to 150 thin, white men between 18 and 30 who can portray typical World War II soldiers from the American midwest. They’ll be resting on a beach, and possibly swimming, after a battle on an unnamed South Pacific island.

I was more pumped about PTA doing war scenes than anything else.