'Vice' Rumored For NYFF; More Insider Reactions Revealed

Paul Thomas Anderson at the New York Festival, 1997.

With Inherent Vice's theatrical release just a hair under five months away, questions have begun to percolate as to where ( or if ) the film will have a festival premiere. The Cannes Film Festival back in May proved an unrealistic mesh with the film's post-production schedule, with an anonymous source at Hollywood Elsewhere suggesting PTA was more comfortable with a late summer premiere at Telluride, Venice, and/or Toronto film festivals. Any of those festivals could still prove to be where PTA chooses to unveil the new movie, but according to new reporting from Hollywood Elsewhere, a slight curveball may be coming in the near future, with an exclusive 2014 New York Film Festival premiere in the works:

There's convincing chatter about Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, David Fincher's Gone Girl, and [Christopher] Nolan's Interstellar debuting at the New York Film Festival, although the most recent buzz says that Interstellar could play Telluride first. But the other two are thought to be NYFF exclusives.

PTA notably brought both Boogie Nights and Punch-Drunk Love to the New York Film Festival in 1997 and 2002, respectively, so it is not much of a stretch to conceive that Vice could play there as well.

Hollywood Elsewhere also reported yesterday that word about Vice is continuing to reverberate within the industry:

Last night I spoke to a friend who knows a woman who recently saw Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice... Her initial nutshell reaction was that she "didn't get it" because...well, how could I know? But one of the apparent blockages was that it doesn't adhere to a precise narrative through-line that led anywhere in particular (i.e. no third-act payoff). But then she started to understand it a bit more when she began to think about it the next day. A film that's more about the journey than the destination. I told this guy that three months ago an industry friend who'd seen Vice had described it in a similar way, calling it "brilliant and mesmerizing in an atmospheric, non-linear sort of way"as well as "Lebowski-esque"

We'd say that sounds just like PTA.

The 52nd annual New York Film Festival will run September 26 - October 12.
The 41st annual Telluride Film Festival will run August 29 - September 1.
The 71st annual Venice Film Festival will run August 27 - September 6.
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival will run September 4 - September 14.

Not too much longer and we'll know which -- if any -- of these festivals will score an Inherent Vice slot in their lineup.

In the meantime...

IV: 157 days

Find more information about the film on our Inherent Vice page. 
Stay tuned to Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates

News Round-Up: Venice Awards, TIFF, Interviews, Soundtrack, More

After a lovely weekend at the Toronto Film Festival, we're back and ready to catch up! Hopefully you all were following along with us on Twitter where we tried to keep up with the avalanche of news as best we could, but if not here is the rundown of what you missed. (It was a lot.) Speed round!

1. 'THE MASTER' WINS BIG IN VENICE
"The Master" picked up a pair of major awards at the Venice Film Festival for Best Actor (tie) for Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Silver Lion Award (Best Director) for PTA. The film had also been selected to receive the Golden Lion Award (Best Film) but the jury was forced to revote due to some silly rules about winning more than one award. Regardless, this is huge great news for the film and both Paul & Harvey Weinstein have spoken out about how happy they are.

2. TIFF PREMIERE
"The Master" had its North American Premiere at TIFF on Friday where I caught the film for a second viewing. It was just as brilliant and enigmatic as the first time and was seemed to be rapturously received by most critics. Paul was there to introduce the film briefly (which was running about an hour behind schedule due to the previous film running over) and you can watch his intro here (taped by me).

3. WATCH THE TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE
You can watch the entire 30 minute TIFF press conference with Paul, producer JoAnne Sellar and Amy Adams. It's quite good and spoiler-free from what I recall. Just look at Paul's reaction when someone brings up Scientology. Priceless.

4. AUSTIN & NYC SCREENINGS
The film had 70mm sneak preview screenings in both Austin and New York this week. Paul was on hand to introduce the Alamo Drafthouse screening in Austin Monday night while Amy Adams and Harvey Weinstein gave introductions at the NYC showing on Tuesday at the Ziegfeld Theatre. There were of course two new teasers cut for the film which you watch below (or find on our "The Master" page as Teaser Trailer #5 & #6). Word on these screenings was (once again) dropped pretty last minute so apologies if you weren't able to get tickets.

5. LA TIMES INTERVIEWS JOAQUIN
The LA Times interviewed Joaquin where he discusses working with Paul, his acting hiatus and how he's not sure if he knows any more about his character now than when he started. Also features some great quotes from Paul.

6. HUFFPO INTERVIEWS PTA
Paul was also interviewed by the Huffington Post where he talks 70mm, cutting those teasers himself and his "natural attraction to redheads." Definitely worth reading. (We've archived it here.)

7. LISTEN TO THE SOUNDTRACK NOW
"The Master" soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood is now available for purchase on Amazon or you can stream it on Spotify. It's wonderful. Also features "No Other Love" and a little ditty by actress Madisen Beaty.

8. ODDS & ENDS
A few other miscellaneous points of interest include Indiewire's Critics Survey of PTA's Best Film, Grantland's look back at Paul and Fiona Apple's relationship, Matt Singer's essay about how "Boogie Nights" pre-explained PTA's move towards 70mm and Kent Jones' epic review of "The Master."

‘The Master' Debuts In Venice To Rave Reviews; Watch The Press Conference, More

A bit earlier we told you that "The Master" had its official debut at the Venice Film Festival where the film picked up some rave reviews. Most critics seemed to agree that it's a dense and challenging but ultimately stunning achievement for Paul. Deadline says that the film has received the best score in a festival poll of over 20 critics so let's cross our fingers the film could pick up an award or two from the fest. We've started compiling the reviews here for easy clicking for after you've seen the film. For now here are a few highlights...

Interview: Venice Film Festival Press Conference

Partial transcript of the Venice Film Festival press conference on September 1, 2012.

‘The Master' Confirmed For Venice; Running Time Listed As 137 Minutes

After a rollercoaster of back-and-forth, today the Venice Film Festival confirmed "The Master" is indeed set to play in competition in 70mm, of course. (via @ThePlaylist)

La Biennale di Venezia/ 69th Venice International Film Festival 

4 new titles join the roster of the 69th Venice Film Festival · The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson 18th film in Competition (in 70 mm)

Four new titles have been added to enrich the programme of the 69th Venice International Film Festival (29 August – 8 September) directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta. The Master, the highly anticipated new film by American director Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, There will be blood) will be the 18th film in Competition at Venice 69th.

The Master will be screened in 70 mm in the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema) on September 1st at 7.00 p.m., in the presence of the director and of the official delegation. The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Jesse Plemons, David Warshofsky and Rami Malek. Paul Thomas Anderson is the 12th director (out of 18films) participating this year for the first time in the Competition of the Venice Film Festival, along with Olivier Assayas, Ramin Baharani, Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, Rama Burshtein, Daniele Ciprì, Xavier Giannoli, Harmony Korine, Terrence Malick, Valeria Sarmiento, Kirill Serebrennikov.

Update 8/9: The Venice Film Festival site, which had originally listed the running time as 150 minutes, now appears to have been revised with the correct running time of 137 minutes. 2 hours 17 minutes makes more sense with earlier reports. For reference TWBB: 158 min, PDL: 95 min, MAG: 189 min, BOOGIE: 156 min, H8: 102 min. (via @StoxPictures)

Venice Film Festival Sets ‘The Master' World Premiere For Sept 1; TIFF Confirmed As Well

Well, so much for Venice Festival director Alberto Barbera saying just three days ago “I didn’t mention the film. Nobody mentioned the film. It is not in any of our sections.” Because according to Deadline, "The Master" is now set to premiere at the festival in competition on Saturday night September 1st. So unless Paul manages to book a secret screening in Austin (or someplace) prior to this, it looks like this will be the World Premiere for the film, just under 2 weeks before it's scheduled to open in limited release in the U.S. The silver lining for those not attending Venice is that "it might well be part of the Toronto International Film Festival program as well." Great news since I'm already booked for TIFF. How about you, readers? Is anyone going to Venice? Or will you be jealously watching from the sidelines with us? (Thanks again to The Film Stage for the headsup.)

Update 10:08pm: The Wrap confirms that the film will indeed be shown in Toronto. Though as of now, The Weinstein Company and TIFF representatives have declined to comment. An earlier version of the LA Times story on the subject also confirmed the film for TIFF but that's now been corrected to say the film is only "likely" to premiere. They cited the delayed announcement as being due to the 70mm specifications, stating "In booking the film at the high-profile festivals, the Weinstein Co. faces some technical challenges, namely ensuring that the movie can be screened on a 70mm projector, since Anderson filmed the movie using 70mm." David Poland tweets that "The Master will play TIFF in 70mm at the Princes of Wales theater in the first 4 days of the festival" and that it will be presented as a "special screening."

Justin C. Chang from Variety also tweeted to us in regards to the Venice confusion saying, "A Venice fest source had said last week the film was in, but as a late addition, so we held off. Sorry for the confusion." Whether the film was held off initial releases for technical reasons (surely they would've known by now whether Venice or TIFF could present the film in 70mm) to generate excitement (it has been exciting, hasn't it?) or perhaps a difference of opinion behind-the-scenes on exactly how the film should debut, we're not sure yet. But neither TIFF, Venice nor The Weinstein Company have confirmed either of the aforementioned screenings yet, so it appears the cat may be out of the bag for any planned surprises.

FYI, we're a lot more active on Twitter than Facebook so if you like your news up-to-the-moment, that's where you want to be.

‘The Master' Not Playing Venice Or TIFF

Over the last two days the lineups for Toronto and Venice Film Festival's have been unveiled and it looks like neither one managed to score "The Master." Though TIFF seemed like a long shot in recent days, Venice came as more of a shock. We knew that the festival was chasing the film along with the new efforts from Terrence Malick and Brian DePalma, and while it looks like they got their other two choices, PTA's latest is the whale they just couldn't catch. Curiously (and probably frustratingly for those attending) Variety had initially announced "The Master" as being part of the lineup only to retract that statement shortly afterwards. (via @ThePlaylist) Anybody know what happened there? Please pass it along.

Update 8/27: Festival director Alberto Barbera says the film will not play the festival. “I didn’t mention the film. Nobody mentioned the film. It is not in any of our sections.” (via @manuyanezm)

Update 10:40am: A commenter informs us that Venice Festival Director "Alberto Barbera said at the press conference there is one more movie in competition that will be announced in the next few days." So it's still possible "The Master" could bet that film. Standby for heart-attack.

And then there were two. Back in March we ran down the odds on which festivals we thought were most likely to land the film and at the time gave the New York Film Festival the best odds while calling Fantastic Fest a long shot. Obviously some new information has come to light which seems to tip the scales in the other direction. Though it is possible, it doesn't seem likely that the film would play at both fests. (It should be noted that "Melancholia" did this last year but had also played at Cannes, TIFF, opened in France and premiered on VOD by that time too.) Because NYFF is so late in the year, it's really the last major festival and the selection is usually culled from Cannes favorites and a few repeats from Venice/TIFF with a few high profile premieres sprinkled in.

Is ‘The Master' Heading To Venice?; Harvey Weinstein Talks Working With PTA

Over the weekend, The Playlist came across upon an Italian newspaper called La Repubblica who ran down a preview of the Venice Film Festival (August 29-September 8) festival which included several notable titles like the new Terrence Malick film "To The Wonder," "A Place Beyond The Pines" and most notably "The Master." We pegged the fest back in March as a possibility for a premiere and heard as recently as May that they were actively pursuing the film. While nothing is confirmed yet (the lineup isn't announced officially until July 26) it does seem like it's a strong possibility. Whether the film will make a showing at TIFF or NYFF is still unknown as well but those should also firm up their selections in the next month or so.

Update: On the latest episode of "The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell" podcast, Harvey Weinstein stopped by to promote his latest box office smash, the French production "The Intouchables" and towards the end of the episode got into some other films he's got on tap for later this year which led to "The Master."  (via xixax)

‘The Master' Could Be Headed To Venice; John Huston Influence

Back when the rumors started to heat up that "The Master" might be making its Cannes debut, we did a little piece running down the odds on which festivals we thought had the best shot of scoring the film. While we always thought Cannes was a long shot (just seemed a bit too early), we gave better odds to the Venice Film Festival which runs from August 29-Sept 8 this year. Though PTA has never premiered one of his films here, like Cannes the fest always pulls through with an impressive lineup. But unlike the recently concluded fest, the timetable puts it about 5 weeks out from the Oct 12 opening of the film, just enough time to start building some real buzz.

According to an article in the Hollywood Reporter, festival artistic director Alberto Barbera promises a “more sober, less glitzy” version of the festival with new films by Brian de Palma, Terrence Malick and Paul Thomas Anderson as "likely candidates." So while the festival is hot to pursue "The Master" we probably wont know for the next month or two if it's actually playing there as it's still a bit early for a confirmed lineup. Also worth noting is that if the film does premiere in Venice, there's a good chance for a screening either at TIFF or the NYFF which fall immediately afterwards. 

In other news, a reader recently passed along this link to a blogpost that points out some similarities between "The Master" teaser and a John Huston documentary called "Let There Be Light" which chronicled soldiers suffering from psychological wounds suffered in WWII. Similarities are such that we have no doubt that PTA probably came across this as part of his research and would be worth watching a few minutes of over at the Film Preservation site to see for yourself. (Good find, D.H. Sayer!)

The Festival Route: We Run Down The Odds

We now know that "The Master" will receive a October 12th release, most likely limited opening in NY/LA before expanding wider in the following weeks. It'll be going up against the Ryan Gosling noir "The Gangster Squad" and a Kevin James comedy called "Here Comes The Boom." As far as history is concerned this date puts it in the company of films like "Punch-Drunk Love," "The Social Network," "A Serious Man," "Where The Wild Things Are," "The Skin I Live In," "Martha Marcy May Marlene" and "Rachel Getting Married," all recent examples of challenging fare that doesn't strike us as your typical awards bait. So while we know where we'll be lining up on October 12, what we don't know yet for certain is whether the film will have its premiere at a festival (or several) along the way. With 196 days to go, we thought we'd run down the list of possibilities and what the odds are of "The Master" showing up on the festival circuit.

Cannes Film Festival (May 16 - 27)
The Vibe: Arguably the most prestigious film festival in the world. A mix of World Cinema auteurs (Von Trier, Haneke, etc.) and splashy Hollywood premieres ("Midnight In Paris," "Pirates of the Carribean").
The History: "Hard Eight" played Cannes (after it had premiered at Sundance) and "Punch-Drunk Love" had its World Premiere here back in 2002.
The Odds: Many have speculated (maybe just wishful thinking?) that "The Master" will show up on the Croisette this year but we think it's unlikely. The full lineup won't be announced 'till April 19 but we think May is awfully early for the film, which as of February was still being scored. And with all the secrecy surrounding the project we find it hard to believe they'd want to let the cat out of the bag this early.
Verdict: Long shot.

Venice Film Festival (August 29 - Sept 8)
The Vibe: Yet another long-running prestigious international film festival, Venice is also heavy on auteurs from around the world but in recent years has become home for films looking for the first stop on the Fall awards circuit. Last year's fest held premieres of "Shame," "The Ides of March," and "Tinker Tailor Solider Spy" among others.
The History: None of PTA's films have premiered here.
The Odds: Though he doesn't have a history with the fest, we wouldn't entirely rule out "The Master" showing up for a Venice premiere. Not only would it be a nice little vacation for the crew but would help to build the buzz stateside making U.S. critics envious of their international counterparts. However August/early September is still a little early if PTA intends to keep his packaged unwrapped as long as he can.
Verdict: Possible.

Telluride Film Festival (August 31 - Sept 3)
The Vibe: A festival that caters mainly for press and industry types features a mix of Awards contenders and more esoteric fare though the lineup is kept secret until the festival begins.
The History: Unless we're mistaken none of his films have played here though a 20 minute reel from "There Will Be Blood" was shown in 2007 as part of a Daniel Day-Lewis tribute.
The Odds: Though films like "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Descendants" have received a huge boost from playing Telluride, we just don't see this as a proper venue for "The Master" premiere. Telluride is mainly thought of as a fest for rich folks and that just doesn't strike us as PTA's style.
Verdict: Long shot.

Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 6 - 16)
The Vibe: One of the largest film festivals in the world. This is where many critics and audiences get their first look at the films that will be coming out over the next few months. It may not be the first festival to play them but the range and quality of films showcased here is extraordinary.
The History: "Boogie Nights" premiered here and "Punch-Drunk Love" played here after its Cannes premiere.
The Odds: It might be a no-brainer to bring "The Master" here a few weeks before its theatrical release but with a lineup that includes over 300 films all vying for awards attention, it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle. The most buzzed about film to play during TIFF back in 2010 was a film that didn't play the fest at all. "The Social Network" famously had a critics screening in NYC during the festival where journalists flew from Toronto to New York and back in the same day just to catch the film, which could make holding back the film an even smarter play.
Verdict: Possible.

Fantastic Fest (Sept 20 - 27)
The Vibe: Genre festival started in 2005 by Tim League of the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX that showcases horror, sci-fi, fantasy, action and cult films from around the world.
The History: "There Will Be Blood" famously had its World Premiere here as a Secret Screening back in September of 2007. Harry Knowles from AICN is closely linked with the fest and was able to book "Magnolia" at his first ever "Butt-Numb-A-Thon" 24 hour film festival back in 1999.
The Odds: Though "The Master" doesn't appear to fit into any of those genres, neither did "There Will Be Blood" despite the horror influences. We suspect that the decision to book the fest was a last minute decision to show it off in front of famously enthusiastic Austin film fans and not necessarily a strategy that they'll employ twice.
Verdict: Long shot.

New York Film Festival (Sept 28 - Oct 14)
The Vibe: A mix of favorites from Cannes and the Fall festivals that take place beforehand, the NYFF's relatively small lineup (about 30 films in the main section) and highbrow leanings make it a good place to have a splashy premiere and not feel like you're going to be lost in the shuffle.
The History: "Boogie Nights" played here after premiering at TIFF and "Punch-Drunk Love" closed the festival in 2002 after playing at Cannes and TIFF.
The Odds: Despite some WTF selections ("Hereafter"? "My Week With Marilyn"?) and omissions ("Black Swan," "There Will Be Blood"), NYFF is still thought of as a prestigious festival to be a part of and they have had a history of playing his films so it might make sense to roll it out during the fest right before a NY/LA opening. However, 'TWBB''s curious omission from the 2007 lineup (and surprise screening in Austin around the same timeframe) might mean they have other plans.
Verdict: Very possible.

Of course, the other option is to skip the festival route altogether. "There Will Be Blood" sidestepped all the major Fall festivals and still went on to being PTA's highest grossing and most acclaimed film. "The Master" isn't going to have any trouble stirring up attention and traveling the festival circuit also runs the risk of 'peaking too early.'

If the team behind the film just decide to have a couple of screenings (like they did for "There Will Be Blood" at The Castro in San Francisco and secretly in Austin), that would be just fine with us. With the curiosity surrounding the film - it appeared on nearly every site's Most Anticipated list for 2012 despite not even knowing at the time that it would be released this year - the festivals probably need the film more than it needs them. What do you think?

Check out our updated "The Master" cast and follow the entire history of the project here.

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