Philip Seymour Hoffman & JoAnne Sellar Downplay ‘The Master's Scientology Connections In EW; Plus 15 New Images

The new Fall Movie Preview of issue of Entertainment Weekly has arrived and features a preview of "The Master" along with some quotes from Philip Seymour Hoffman and producer JoAnne Sellar about the project, specifically the connections to L. Ron Hubbard. (They both downplay them.) Quotes have been excerpted below.

"It's not the L. Ron Hubbard story. [Scientology] was one of the bigger movements at the time, but there were a lot of movements at that time," says Hoffman. "There's nothing about how I'm behaving or talking that echoes [Hubbard]. I thought of a lot of other bigger-than-life personalities, charismatic people like Orson Welles."

"People are going to have to draw their own conclusions to that aspect of the movie," says producer JoAnne Sellar. "[Anderson] is interested in how veterans came back from World War II. They were these lost souls who were uncertain about their future."

"Joaquin's character is like a beaten dog," says Hoffman. "No matter where he goes, [Quell] gets into severe trouble. And somehow I'm able to deal with him."

19 Brand New Stills From ‘The Master'

This morning The Weinstein Co. has dropped 19 brand new stills from 'The Master" which you can check out over at our Facebook page. They're all pretty gorgeous and contain scenes/shots in present in any of the previously released teasers (via our buddies at The Film Stage). Update 8/7: Photos removed at the request of The Weinstein Company.

And thanks again to The Film Stage for the 90(!) high resolution stills from the full-length trailer that dropped a few weeks back which we've also posted over at Facebook. Perfect for your desktop wallpaper/Facebook cover photo/Twitter icon/etc. We've definitely come a long way from the Stellar Spa days, haven't we? If you haven't already you should really check out Cigarettes & Red Vines presents: A Guide To 70mm which should clear up a lot of questions we've been getting from readers. And for those still counting with us, there are just 43 days until September 14th. Still no official confirmation from Venice or TIFF despite being outed by Variety and The Wrap. We'll keep you updated as soon as we hear something.

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