A new Inherent Vice image has landed online from writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming Thomas Pynchon adaptation, but instead of offering another look at Joaquin Phoenix’s pothead detective or Josh Brolin’s straight-laced cop, we actually get our first look at the female lead, played by Katherine Waterston.  The actress—who is the daughter of Law & Order vet Sam Waterston—has had supporting roles in things like Boardwalk Empire and Taking Woodstock, but Inherent Vice marks her highest profile role to date as she plays the “free-spirited, sensual ex-girlfriend who wakes the mutton-chopped private investigator Doc Sportello (Phoenix) from his stoner haze.”  As the female lead of a Paul Thomas Anderson film, Waterston will surely get some meaty scenes to chew through on screen, and this image is a simple tease of what could be a breakout role for the actress.

Hit the jump to check out the new Inherent Vice image.  The film also stars Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Martin Short, Jena Malone, and Joanna NewsomInherent Vice will have its world premiere next month at the New York Film Festival and opens in limited release on December 12th and will expand nationwide on January 9, 2015.

Image via New York Times.

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Image via Warner Bros.

Here’s the official synopsis for Inherent Vice:

“Inherent Vice” is the seventh feature from Paul Thomas Anderson and the first ever film adaption of a Thomas Pynchon novel.  When private eye Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend whom she just happens to be in love with, and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a looney bin…well, easy for her to say.  It’s the tail end of the psychedelic `60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” that’s being way too overused – except this one usually leads to trouble.  With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD Detectives, a tenor sax player working undercover, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists…  Part surf noir, part psychedelic romp – all Thomas Pynchon.

Inherent Vice Image Katherine Waterston