Diving Deep Into ‘The Master' Trailer; Megan Ellison Says The Film 'Changed Her Life'; Screening At Fantastic Fest?

Today we have a big round-up of news for you. So if you were busy watching the trailer all weekend as we were, you may have missed a few exciting (if less seismic) developments. First off, in my other life over at The Playlist, I posted a somewhat lengthy trailer breakdown for those who might not be as up on the film as Cigs & Vines readers. I wanted to give a big thank you to our commenters (Tyler, anonymous, etc.) for all their help fleshing out the article. If you havent' read it yet, head on over and take a look and if there's anything else I left out, please let me know kindly in the comments.

Financier/patron saint of cinema Megan Ellison tweeted the following heartfelt thank you to Paul but since he doesn't have Twitter, we'll repost it here in hopes that it gets back to him.

Paul Thomas Anderson and The Master have changed my life in such a deeply profound way forever that all I can really say is, thank you.

Kirsten Dunst, who's dying to get into a PTA movie, also tweeted, "I'd give Joaquin Phoenix an oscar based on the trailer for "The Master."" to which Ellison responded "and you wouldn't be wrong to." A few other famous friends expressed their admiration of the trailer over the weekend as well including "LOST" co-creator Damon Lindelof ("I just watched THE MASTER trailer and I think it made me crazy.") and "Brick" writer/director Rian Johnson ("Dude I just watched THE MASTER trailer like 138 times in a row dude dude DUDE")

In other news, we recently heard whispers that a couple weeks ago Paul was in Austin testing the sound for "The Master" at the Alamo Drafthouse. Our sources say he had a soundboard set up testing levels and at the top of this post there's a picture (via Tumblr) to prove it. You can see Paul standing alongside his composer Jonny Greenwood, Alamo Drafthouse owner Tim League and a mysterious blue canister that may or may not contain the greatest film of 2012. Rumors are flying of a possible Fantastic Fest premiere as you'll remember "There Will Be Blood" had a secret screening/premiere there back in 2007.

Update 7/23: A commenter with the inside track says, "It was more than just sound tests. The finished film was screened for League weeks ago. It is already booked to play Fantastic Fest. Take that to the bank." Fantastic Fest runs September 20-27.

PTA Suggested Kirsten Dunst To Lars Von Trier For ‘Melancholia'

A quick bit of Friday news for you all. As you may be aware, the Cannes Film Festival is underway in France right now and filmmakers/provacateur/friend of PTA, Lars Von Trier has gotten himself into a bit of trouble over some remarks he made during a press conference. But we're not here to talk about what is presumably a misunderstanding from the troublemaking auteur, we're here to mention that he got the idea for his latest leading lady from Paul! According to an interview with Von Trier for Indiewire...

So you ended up casting Kirsten Dunst, who gives a great performance. Had you seen her in something like “Spiderman”?
I have seen her in several things, but I had had a long discussion with Paul Thomas Anderson years ago about this project, and he suggested her. And she was available.

So there you have it. While we're not sure how the pair know each other, it's cool to see Paul recommend the actress even though the duo have yet to work together.
In other non-news, if you missed it at the end of our last post we rather cryptically suggested checking out John Huston's 1979 religious satire, "Wise Blood." While we can't confirm it as an official DVD pick, it seems there may be a few surface similarities in that film and what we know about 'The Master' project so far. So if you're into that kind of thing, the film is available on Hulu+ and Netflix from the Criterion Collection.
So, happy Friday. And as always, you can get the latest news on Cigarettes & Red Vines on Twitter and Facebook.