New P. T. Anderson movie - shades of L. Ron Hubbard?

[RocketMan]

I daresay I'm not the only one here who's excited about the news that Paul Thomas Anderson is prepping a movie which is "a period drama to star Philip Seymour Hoffman as a founder of a new religious organization in the 1950s".

More at link

[daba64]

Can't help but recall that both Anderson and Hoffman were accused by Jeremy Blake of being in on the harassment and sabotage of him and Theresa Duncan.

I wonder if this film will be positive or neutral toward Scientology and only negative toward David Miscavige, who seems to be on the road to being ousted.

And of course don't get me started about the possible connection between C0$ and spooks.



The world as Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan saw it
By Chris Lee, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 3, 2007

On the evening of July 10, rising art star Jeremy Blake returned to his New York apartment, a converted rectory at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery that he shared with his girlfriend, Theresa Duncan. The couple, extremely devoted and still very much in love after 12 years, had eaten a late lunch together, and Blake invited the church's assistant pastor over for a drink.

According to Father Frank Morales, Blake was the first to discover Duncan — a blogger, screenwriter and video-game designer — lying prone in the bedroom. "He was crying, visibly shattered," said Morales, who entered the apartment five minutes behind Blake. "He was sobbing, kicking the walls, putting his head in his hands. But that night he got a grip fairly quickly." A suicide note, a bottle of pills and alcohol were found near the body, police said.

Friends rushed to Blake's side, including some from Los Angeles, where the couple had lived for several years, and the Washington area, where Blake was raised. "It was on the table: This guy's an extreme suicide risk," Morales said. "Six to 10 people took it in shifts looking after him. We had him blanketed."

But after a week of supervision, Blake was "pulling at the leash," Morales said, and returned to his day job as a graphic designer at the video game manufacturer Rockstar Games.

On July 17, a day before Duncan's funeral outside Detroit, Blake took the subway heading for Brooklyn, where he was meeting a friend. A short while later, a woman phoned police when she observed the 6-foot-2 artist wander into the surf off New York's Rockaway Beach, leaving behind his clothing, wallet and a short, hand-written suicide note. A fisherman discovered Blake's body off the coast of New Jersey five days later.

The double suicide of this glamorous, well-connected and attractive couple has baffled and fixated branches of the Hollywood film community, the art world and the blogosphere. In the days since their deaths, a clearer picture has emerged of a couple bound very tightly but suspicious of outsiders and increasingly losing touch with reality. Though he was selling work at top art galleries, she had suffered a big disappointment when Paramount put a screenplay of hers into turnaround.

And Blake and Duncan were sure people were conspiring against them — in particular, the Church of Scientology.

In a 27-page "chronology" written by Blake in October in preparation for a lawsuit against the church that was never filed, he alleges the couple was "methodically defamed, harassed, followed and threatened" by Scientologists. The document lists Tom Cruise, filmmaker-artist-author Miranda July, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, former Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston, alternative rocker Beck and Art Forum Editor Tim Griffin, among others, as players in the dispute. In addition, a number of Hollywood talent agents and major league art collectors were accused of being in on the conspiracy.

In many ways, the chronology serves as a portrait of growing paranoia: It begins with struggles over making a film and ends up with mentions of implied threats to the couple's dog and sightings of "Scientology related satanic graffiti" near their Venice, Calif., home.
....

The chronology presents a revealing glimpse of their last five years together: attending rock star birthday parties and taking power meetings with movie executives, hobnobbing with boldfaced names, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Giovanni Ribisi and Emily Watson, while living in a state of semi-constant dread — even if, as friends say, the couple's apprehension about being victimized was not reason enough for them to commit suicide.

LINK

[Code Unknown]

I wonder if this film will be positive or neutral toward Scientology and only negative toward David Miscavige, who seems to be on the road to being ousted.

From the linked Variety article:

The drama does not so much scrutinize self-started churches like Scientology or the Mormons, as much as it explores the need to believe in a higher power, the choice of which one to embrace and the point at which a belief system graduates into a religion.

[Nordic]

Why do they keep letting that guy waste money on bad movies that nobody sees?

I really don't get it.

[Code Unknown]

Why do they keep letting that guy waste money on bad movies that nobody sees?

I really don't get it.

I liked Boogie Nights.

[barracuda]

Why do they keep letting that guy waste money on bad movies that nobody sees?

Prolly 'cause they realise he's a frikken genius, or somethin'. Some people have a weakness for that.

[Fresno_Layshaft]

There Will Be Blood is the only good movie he's ever made. The rest is pretty crappy. But maybe he's turned the corner and will start to put together a string of great movies. This project sounds interesting. I'd go see it.

[IanEye]

Beatles For Sale is the only good album they've ever made. The rest are pretty crappy. But maybe they've turned the corner and will start to put together a string of great albums. This project sounds interesting. I'd go listen to it.

[daba64]

There Will Be Blood is the only good movie he's ever made....

I disagree. Hard Eight (originally titled Sydney) was lovely. Please enjoy this still of the scene in which a pack of matches spontaneously combusts in John C. Reilly's pocket:


I thoroughly enjoyed Boogie Nights.

Magnolia is gorgeous. Inspired opening sequence can be seen here.

Punch Drunk Love is brilliant. Flawed perhaps, but still far better than much else out there. That's that.

Though I am now vaguely suspicious, I will be heartbroken if PTA ends up shilling for C0$ because I have loved his films up to this point. Phil Hoffman doubly so.

[Nordic]

The only good movie he ever made was Hard Eight. Boogie Nights was fair.

There Will Be Blood was wretched. And it didn't make any money.

Magnolia was one of the most gag-inducing movies I've ever seen.

ON edit: Sorry, not meaning to distract or hijack, I'm just bored out of my mind tonight.

[Code Unknown]

There Will Be Blood is the only good movie he's ever made. The rest is pretty crappy. But maybe he's turned the corner and will start to put together a string of great movies. This project sounds interesting. I'd go see it.

Oh yeah, I forgot he did that.

[compared2what?]

The only good movie he ever made was Hard Eight. Boogie Nights was fair.

There Will Be Blood was wretched. And it didn't make any money.

Magnolia was one of the most gag-inducing movies I've ever seen.

ON edit: Sorry, not meaning to distract or hijack, I'm just bored out of my mind tonight.

Every one of his movies is extraordinary, as is his artistry.

My two cents. He's a personal favorite.

[RocketMan]

Every one of his movies is extraordinary, as is his artistry.

My two cents. He's a personal favorite.

Ditto! And I don't know why there are immediately suspicions flying P. T. Anderson would "shill" for CO$. He seems to be well attuned and sympathetic to the downtrodden and laughed upon.

[Fresno_Layshaft]

Beatles For Sale is the only good album they've ever made. The rest are pretty crappy. But maybe they've turned the corner and will start to put together a string of great albums. This project sounds interesting. I'd go listen to it.

Don't get me started on the Beatles. You wanna talk over-rated...

But really, you thought Magnolia was a good movie? Boogie Nights? Those are some awful movies. But its all subjective isn't it. I guess your opinions are more valid. After that clever pun on my user name, I bow to thee. PT Anderson is a genius on par with Orson Welles and Picasso.

[daba64]

Ah et, I've missed you.

...I don't know why there are immediately suspicions flying P. T. Anderson would "shill" for CO$....

Because he was specifically named by Blake and Duncan after Blake worked with him. I didn't want to believe it, because I love PTA. Maybe their paranoia had grown beyond justifiable boundaries. That was what I had kind of hoped. But now a movie about LRH? Just the thought of it made my heart sink. I guess I'll have to wait and see it for myself.

But if the theater runs that pre-show ad for The Gap with Anna Gaskell in it before the PTA/LRH film, I'm heading for the hills.