Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Inherent Vice’ Starts Shooting This Month, WB Backing Picture & Robert Elswit To Lens

The road to Paul Thomas Anderson‘s next picture, an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon‘s “Inherent Vice,” has been interesting. All through the press run for “The Master,” the filmmaker insisted it would go into production this year, and indeed, last we heard, his longtime producer JoAnn Sellar said the aim was to start shooting at the end of the April or in early May — and it looks like everyone involved is hitting that target right on the nose.

Cigarettes & Red Vines reports that “Inherent Vice” will indeed start shooting this month, with casting already underway and we can only assume will be announced within the next few weeks (our guess: in time for the buyer’s market at the Cannes Film Festival). But wait, there’s even more — while it may have been reported/assumed that Megan Ellison‘s Annapurna Pictures were going to team up with Anderson again, it’s actually Warner Bros. who will be backing the movie, marking Anderson’s first picture for the studio (though yes, “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia” were both done at New Line, who were eventually swallowed up by WB).

While Anderson took a bold technical gamble with “The Master,” shooting on 70mm stock and working with cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. for the first time, on “Inherent Vice” the director will be keeping things simple. He’ll be shooting on regular 35mm stock and will reunite with Robert Elswit, who has shot all of his pictures (except “The Master,” duh).

As you know Joaquin Phoenix is reteaming with Anderson after Robert Downey Jr. stepped aside/was gently reconsidered. No word yet about Charlize Theron, who was said to be a possibility for a role, though we’ll probably find out soon enough. But as always there’s lots of questions: while Anderson went rogue with this own trailers for “The Master” last year, will he be able to do the same thing with powers that be at Warner Bros. holding the purse strings? But if he wasn’t afraid to step on the toes of Harvey Weinstein, we figure he’ll do what he wants in that regard this time too — again, we’ll see.

If you’re still playing catch up, the movie will follow the zany adventures of a private detective uncovering a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer in drug-kissed 1960s Los Angeles. So yes, another gear shift from the director and perhaps most importantly — it will be the shortest gap between films since the years that spaced out “Magnolia” and “Punch Drunk Love.”