**Update: **This doesn't quite warrant its own news story, but Amy Adams is the latest cast member signing on, according to Variety. She'll play Hoffman's character's wife.
His next film still might not yet have a name, but now that it has some cash behind it, Paul Thomas Anderson is wasting no time in filling the supporting roles around stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. The latest acolytes? Friday Night Lights’ Jesse Plemons and character stalwart David Warshofsky.
Though the name will never likely be uttered or seen on screen (because the organisation itself is one of the most likely to react badly/ litigiously), the new film is loosely based on the founding and tenets of Scientology, with Hoffman as a charismatic intellectual who returns from World War 2 a shell-shocked man who crafts a belief system aimed at helping other lost souls in post-war America.
Phoenix is on board to play Hoffman’s right hand man, while Laura Dern also has a central role.
Plemons, still best know for playing Landry Clarke in Lights, also appeared in Paul as one of the rednecks who causes trouble for our heroes. He’ll crop up next in Battleship. Warshofsky, meanwhile, is a classic That Guy actor with a long list of credits including recent movies such as Unstoppable, Fair Game, Public Enemies and, not-so-coincidentally, Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. He’ll appear as a detective in the new film, while Plemons is Hoffman’s character’s son.
Anderson is looking to kick off shooting this month in Sacramento.