The gaps between Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies seem to be growing and growing, with nothing emerging since There Will Be Blood in 2007. While he’s long been trying to put together The Master, that still hasn’t started shooting (latest reports say it’s been shelved indefinitely), and now come reports, via Vulture, that he may be thinking of adapting Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel, Inherent Vice, for the big screen.
As you’d expect for anything to do with the reclusive Pynchon, nothing seems certain. While the rights to the book are being handled by CAA, the most anyone can say is that Anderson wants to adapt it, but whether Pynchon will actually allow him to is anyone’s guess. The book itself is about Larry “Doc” Sportello, a pothead private eye wandering through the Summer (and winter) of Love in 1969 Los Angeles.
Anderson and Pynchon would seem to be a good fit (or as good a fit as anyone’s going to cme when adapting Pynchon), and Inherent Vice is easier to translate onto the big screen than much of the author’s work, even if it’d still be tough to pull off the labyrinthine plot and ideas. Indeed, with Anderson seemingly making fewer and fewer movies, this may be another that he doesn’t quite get in front of the cameras, simply because it’ll tough for investors to see what they’re getting before it’s made.
There’s also a mention of Anderson trying to attach Robert Downey Jr. to the lead role, but at the moment that seems more wishlist than real.