‘The Master’ Trailer: Finally, We Meet the Master

Easily one of our most-anticipated films due out in the second half of the year, Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘The Master’ has been dishing out clues to the suspenseful trip audiences can expect to take once the drama reaches theaters in October. Joaquin Phoenix starred in that first clip, drenched in mood but showing us very little. His ‘Master’ co-star Philip Seymour Hoffman takes center stage in the next teaser, and if this doesn’t have you salivating for Anderson’s latest, then nothing will.

The clip, titled “Hopelessly Inquisitive,” runs just over a minute and a half, giving us the best look at Hoffman’s benign cult leader to date. The film – which may or may not be a veiled reference to the start of Scientology – stars Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd, the head of a religious group founded in the 1950s who takes a drifter (Phoenix) under his wing.

The first thing that hits you in the new clip is Johnny Greenwood’s unnerving score. Then the actors ramp up. ‘Master’ looks like it will boil down to a face-off between Phoenix’s wayward soul and Hoffman’s alleged rock of stability … with the mystery being how “stable” Hoffman’s faith-based world actually is.

Also, though, after two clips, we know very little about ‘The Master’ and what it promises. And that’s a great thing. Anderson’s name, alone, has us intrigued. That cast will lure us into any production. October can’t get here quick enough

The Weinstein Company plans to open ‘The Master’ in limited released on Oct. 12. The latest tease can be found below.