Despite being a sounding board for the woes and whines of anyone with a computer and/or phone, Twitter can actually be pretty cool sometimes. Case in point: last night Pixar directors/all-around awesome guys Brad Bird (The Incredibles), Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) and Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3) participated in a Twitter conversation about the merits of 70mm exhibition and 65mm shooting. The conversation alone would have been enough to satisfy any cinephile, but a tidbit of exciting news came out of the back-and-forth. Stanton, who’s set to release his live-action debut John Carter this March, tweeted the following:

“The Master is indeed in 65. They nearly lost a camera shooting in the Bay.”

The Master is the working title of Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly anticipated new drama, and it appears he shot the pic in the high-resolution format. Hit the jump for more.

Jonny Greenwood‘s score for There Will Be Blood was one of the many reasons the film was amazing.  It pulled just enough from period-era music so as not be jarring, but it was offbeat enough to be completely unnerving.  Now, Cigarettes and Red Vines is reporting that Greenwood is re-teaming with director Paul Thomas Anderson to score The Master (still an unofficial title).  Oliver Weindling, founder of British record label Babel, tweeted said “Zed-U recorded part of soundtrack for Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead last week. Film (by Paul Thomas Anderson) to appear in 2013.”  Zed-U are a British jazz trio and you can listen to some of their music after the jump.

For those who aren’t familiar with The Master, the story centers on a World War II veteran (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who returns home and creates his own religion after witnessing the horrors of war.  At one point, The Master reportedly had a very strong parallel to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, but it’s unknown how much of the script has changed since then.  The Master co-stars Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons, and David Warshovsky. Let’s take a moment to be grateful that this once-dead project is now in post-production with a late 2012 U.S. release on the horizon (the 2013 date is when the movie will probably hit the U.K.)

All eyes were on writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson as to what project he would be taking on after his 2007 tour-de-force There Will Be Blood. It took a few years, but he finally settled on a new untitled project that centers on the leader/creator of a faith-based organization and his followers. The stellar cast includes Philip Seymour Hoffman as the organization’s leader and Joaquin Phoenix as a young drifter who Hoffman sets as his right-hand-man, as well as Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons, and David Warshovsky. Steve was able to grab a synopsis for the film at AFM earlier today, as well as a simple promo poster. Hit the jump to check them out.

Time to break out your calendars, kids!  A slew of new release dates have been announced.  I’m going to rattle off the release dates right now and then you can hit the jump to briefly learn about the film (if you haven’t heard about it already) and what it will be playing against.  First up, Box Office Mojo reports that Rian Johnson’s Looper is set for September 28, 2012; Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous has been pushed back to October 28th; the sci-fi thriller Lockout has been moved to April 13, 2012; the Gerard Butler comedy Playing the Field is slated for March 9, 2012; and the George Clooney political drama The Ides of March has been pushed up a week to October 7th.  Additionally, Cigarettes & Red Vines [via The Playlist] reports that Paul Thomas Anderson’s religious drama The Master (unofficial title) is looking at a late 2012 release.

Hit the jump for more on all of these films and their current competition at the box office.

We have a couple of quick casting stories to report this morning.  First up, The Film Stage confirms that Madisen Beaty has joined Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled religious drama.  Her role is unknown but it’s possible she’s playing the daughter to charismatic religious leader Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his wife (Amy Adams).  This weekend we reported that Rami Malek (who gave an electric performance in The Pacific) had been cast as the daughter’s husband.  The cast also includes Joaquin Phoenix as Dodd’s right-hand man, Laura Dern, Lena Endre, Jesse Plemons, and David Warshofsky.  The plot was once based on L. Ron Hubbard and the founding of Scientology, but that may have been scaled back to tell the story a man who witnesses the horrors of World War II and is spurred to create his own religion.

Hit the jump for casting news on the drama Wartime Wanderers.

The cast for Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled religious drama continues to fill out, as Rami Malek (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn) has just signed on for the film. He joins Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons, David Warshofsky, and Lena Endre in the flick. Showblitz reports that Malek will play the son-in-law of the main character, played by Hoffman, with Adams playing Hoffman’s wife.

The story is set in the 1950s and centers on a WWII veteran who starts a new religion after being haunted by the horrors of battle. Phoenix plays an alcoholic drifter who becomes Hoffman’s right hand man. Malek was last seen in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, and plays the part of Benjamin in the final two Twilight films. The cast so far is impressive, and the thought of having a new Paul Thomas Anderson film in theaters by next year is almost too good to be true.

Last month, we reported that in addition to Joaquin Phoenix signing on to star opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman in Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled religious drama, actresses Madisen Beaty (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Amy Adams, Lena Endre (2009′s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Laura Dern were also circling the project.  Earlier this week, we reported that Dern was on board (along with Jesse Plemons and David Warshofsky) and now we’ve learned that Endre and Adams have also joined the flick.  The Playlist reports that Endre’s role is currently unknown while Deadline is reporting that Adams will play the wife of Hoffman’s character, Lancaster Dodd.

The story is set in the 1950s and centers on Dodd, a World War II veteran, who starts a new religion after being haunted by the horrors of battle.  He then takes in an alcoholic drifter (Phoenix) as his right-hand man.  Earlier drafts of the script heavily implied that the movie was based on L. Ron Hubbard and the founding of the Church of Scientology, but that aspect may have been reduced in later drafts.  I’m not familiar with Endre’s work, but I’m a huge fan of Adams and this cast continues to impress.

Now that the lead roles in Paul Thomas Anderson’ untitled religious drama have been filled by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, it looks like the supporting cast is starting to fill out.  As we previously reported, the film centers on the charismatic figure of Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman) who forms his own religion after witnessing the horrors of World War II.  His right hand man is an alcoholic drifter (Phoenix) who eventually begins to question his mentor’s beliefs.  Earlier drafts heavily implied that the movie was based on the history of Scientology, but that subtext may have been reduced in more recent versions of the script.

Variety reports that Laura Dern (Everything Must Go), Jesse Plemons (Friday Night Lights), and David Warshofsky (There Will Be Blood) have joined the film.  Plemons will play Dodd’s son, and Warshofsky will play a detective.  No word yet on who Dern will play, but I like all three of these actors and Anderson has always excelled at putting together a strong cast.  Plemons will next be seen in Peter Berg’s Battleship while Warshofsky was recently cast in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.

Way back last year, we reported some casting news as well as gave a brief synopsis of the upcoming highly-anticipated Paul Thomas Anderson project. Following his dark character study of rich-man greed in There Will Be Blood, Anderson’s next film, which is technically untitled but had been unofficially given the name The Master, and that script followed “charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952,” but there have now reportedly been some changes to tone down the story’s parallels to Scientology.  The story now concerns “a man who returns after witnessing the horrors of WWII and tries to rediscover who he is in post-war America. He creates a belief system, something that catches on with other lost souls.” We’ll see how much the final product calls out Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, but for now, we’ll make due with this bland promo poster shown at Cannes which, though it provides nothing more than a silhouette of a man, at least confirms that the movie is being developed.

Hit the jump to check out the poster and more details on the film.