Joaquin Phoenix's first acting role since his faux retirement to pursue a rap career, as chronicled in Casey Affleck's mockumentary I'm Still Here, could be in Paul Thomas Anderson's next film, Variety reports.
Phoenix is said to be in talks to join Philip Seymour Hoffman in Anderson's untitled drama, about a wayward disciple's relationship with The Master, the charismatic founder of a new faith that resembles Scientology.
The film would be Anderson's first since 2007's There Will Be Blood, about the battle between a turn-of-the-century prospector and a dubious young preacher. That film, which won an Oscar for Daniel Day-Lewis, was loosely adapted by Anderson from the Upton Sinclair novel Oil! Anderson's next movie is based on his own original script, and will be produced by longtime collaborator JoAnne Sellar.
Anderson is also developing an adaptation of Inherent Vice, Thomas Pynchon's detective novel, scheduled for release in 2014 with Robert Downey Jr in the lead.
