Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice looks like adding another Oscar favourite to its ranks in Benicio del Toro. The Puerto Rican is in talks to join Joaquin Phoenix in Anderson's adaption of the Thomas Pynchon novel of the same name.
If he signs on, del Toro take a small but potentially fireworky part as a lawyer who helps bail out Phoenix's 'tec when he falls, Philip Marlowe-like, onto the wrong side of the law. Which, being a big old pothead, happens a lot.
Based on the Thomas Pynchon novel of the same name, Inherent Vice is a 1970s Californian detective story that sees that P.I., Larry "Doc" Sportello, helping a former lover with an intriguing and ever-so-complicated, shaggy-dog-story of a case involving infidelity, mental institutions and policemen called "Bigfoot".
Back at the tail end of last year, Empire talked to PTA about the a project he's describing as being akin "to a Cheech and Chong movie". His attempts to bring the reclusive author's twisted tale to the big screen have been germinating for some time now and he's clearly buzzed that it's finally coming together. "[Adapting Pynchon's work is] just gonna be great and, hopefully, fun. It's like taking your dad's car for a ride, y'know?"
Warner Bros. is distributing and financing the film. As with anything Anderson fixes a beam on, we'll be keeping a close eye on it.