Joaquin Phoenix is in talks to reteam with Paul Thomas Anderson for Inherent Vice, an adaptation of the 2009 Thomas Pynchon novel.
Megan Ellison‘s Annapurna Pictures is financing the movie, which will be produced by Anderson — who directed Phoenix in last year’s The Master — Ellison, John Lesher and JoAnne Sellar.
Anderson wrote the screenplay based on the novel, which is set in 1969-70 Los Angeles and centers on a pot-smoking detective on a kidnapping case. The book featured a slew of characters with quirky, original names — from Shasta Fay Hepworth and Riggs Warbling to Japonica Fenway and Adrian Prussia.
Anderson has been working on Vice for a few years. The project once had Robert Downey Jr. interested, but he ultimately passed.
Phoenix is nominated for a best actor Oscar for his performance in Anderson’s period drama The Master, based loosely on the origins of Scientology.
Phoenix is repped by WME and Sloane Offer.
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