The Master posters and trailers

Paul Thomas Anderson is a fantastic director who has given us some of the best character-driven films of the past fifteen years. Films like Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood are large scope dramas in which many characters have sweeping and compelling story arcs. They are very entertaining if you like your films to have a literary feel to them. Anderson is also a technically sound director with a full bag of tricks up his sleeve. He’s been compared to Scorsese, Truffaut, Renoir, and Altman. That’s fine company for a guy who dropped out of NYU’s film school after two days.

It’s been five years since Anderson had a film in theaters. He wrote and directed There Will Be Blood, which was nominated for eight Oscar’s and won two, including a best acting award for its star Daniel Day Lewis. Anderson received nominations for writing, directing, and motion picture of the year. Yeah it was good.

Anderson has a new film coming out in 2012 called The Master, and it sounds amazing. He wrote and directed the film, which stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, and Amy Adams. The story centers around a leader of a faith-based organization (Hoffman) and a young WWII veteran (Phoenix) who falls under his wing. Word on the street is that the story is a take on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, which I bet gives Anderson lots of room to develop his characters.

Recently, a couple of posters and a trailer have hit the web.

That’s a director who knows what he’s doing. I love that the posters have a very unusual style to them. The bug-eyed one is interesting yet a little scary. Cool. I can’t wait to see Phoenix go to town as the burned out Navy veteran. It looks like he’s doing some amazing stuff here. And as always, Hoffman looks to be bringing his A-game.

Additionally, here are a couple of shorter, more intimate clips I stumbled across that came out a few months ago. You can tell both of these actors are going to be nominated for all kinds of awards next year, because these scenes are spectacular. 

Get excited for September 21, 2012 when the film is due for release.

Fired up for The Master? Are you as freaked out by the bug-eyed (but great) poster as me? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter!