Filming has officially begun! I will keep scouring my sources looking for on the set photos but from all the reports I’ve read, they’re keeping the set locations pretty private so we may not see any. As for the release date, I hope they’re able to do it. Releasing in November/December is prime time for awards season.

In an article about the film in the Vallejo Times-Herald (via Cigarettes & Red Vines) producer JoAnne Sellar told the paper that the film “is expected to open in late 2012.” Now let’s not go booking time off work just yet. That’s currently the plan, but obviously things can change and nothing is locked down just yet. That said, given that this is pretty much a no-brainer for an awards season run, and with a year and a half to work with, making that deadline shouldn’t be too hard.

Perhaps more interestingly, Sellar denied that the film had any connection with Scientology or L. Ron Hubbard, telling the paper, “It’s a World War II drama. It’s about a drifter after World War II.” Of course, we know that’s only part of the story. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Jesse Plemons, David Warshofsky, Laura Dern, Lena Endre, Rami Malek and Madisen Beaty the film centers on Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman), who returns from WWII and starts a religion (not unlike Scientology), taking Freddie Sutton (Phoenix), a former alcoholic, under his wing.

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Amy Adams has formally been set to star in Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled film, which begins production later this month. She will play the wife of the character played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. He plays a man who returns from witnessing the horrors of WWII, and in an attempt to find himself, he forms a belief system that catches on in the 1950s.

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According to another source, the name of the movie is The Master so I will posting all related news under that category until I hear differently.