We’ve got a few interesting casting stories to share today.  Briefly:

• Sean Penn is in talks to join the increasingly impressive cast of director Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film, Inherent Vice.
• Looking to expand outside of the Marvel world, Chris Evans is eyeing a starring role in the Stephen King adaptation The Ten O’Clock People.
• Li Bingbing (Resident Evil: Retribution) is the first Chinese actress to join the cast of Michael Bay’s sequel Transformers 4, which will feature a host of Chinese stars.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

It looks like Reese Witherspoon is quite eager to reunite with her Walk the Line crew.  The Oscar winner recently signed on to star in Walk the Line director James Mangold’s memoir adaptation Three Little Words, and now she’s joining Joaquin Phoenix in writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of the Thomas Pychon novel Inherent Vice.  Set in 1970 Los Angeles, the film follows a pot-smoking private investigator (Phoenix) as he investigates the alleged kidnapping of a woman he used to date.  Deadline reports Witherspoon’s casting, but has no details regarding her role in the film.

Witherspoon is just the latest A-lister to sign on to Anderson’s The Master follow-up, as the filmmaker is assembling a stellar ensemble that thus far includes Benicio Del Toro and Owen Wilson.  As production is gearing up to begin soon, expect to hear more casting news in the coming weeks.  [Update: The Wrap adds two new cast members.  Jena Malone is expected to play a former drug addict who asks Phoenix's private eye for help—Martin Short has been cast in an unspecified role.]  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for the book.

Owen Wilson is reportedly in negotiations for a role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s (The Master) upcoming crime thriller Inherent Vice, based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon.  Although Wilson’s representative declined to comment, it is believed he will play a lead role opposite the exceptional Joaquin Phoenix.  Set in 1970 Los Angeles, Inherent Vice tells the Lebowski-esque story of pot-smoking private investigator Larry “Doc” Sportello (Phoenix) as he investigates the alleged kidnapping of a girl he used to date.  The cast may also include Benicio del Toro, playing a lawyer who helps the protagonist.  Hit the jump for more details.

The forced theme of tonight’s casting report is One Word In The Title Causes Destruction:

• Ewan McGregor is in negotiations to play the villain in Jane Got a Gun, directed by Gavin O’Connor (Warrior).  Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, and Noah Emmerich co-star.
• Benicio del Toro is in talks to join Joaquin Phoenix in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice.
  
• Michael Bay cast Sophia Myles (Tristan + Isolde) in Transformers 4.  Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, and Kelsey Grammer co-star.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

As we previously reported, filming on Paul Thomas Anderson‘s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon‘s Inherent Vice will begin soon.  Today we’ve learned that Warner Bros., not the previously rumored Annapurna Pictures, who financed The Master, will be coming on board to finance the picture.  That’s a big step up in terms of visibility and ultimately promotion of the picture.  If Warner Bros. had come on as a distributor after the film successfully showed at a festival, that would be less surprising, but apparently the studio has enough faith in what is admittedly a lower-budget picture than their usual fare.  It also signals that the movie may be more mainstream than The Master, and perhaps a return to Anderson’s previous pictures Boogie Nights and Magnolia, which were released through Warner subsidiary, New Line Pictures. Cigarettes and Red Vines reports that the parting from Annapurna was “amicable” and that the two hope to work together in the future.

Hit the jump for more on Inherent Vice including the involvement of director of photography, Robert Elswit.

It appears that writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson is wasting no time in putting together his follow-up to his 2012 effort The Master.  Though there was a five-year gap between Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood and the same amount of time lapsed between TWBB and The Master, Anderson is moving much faster on his adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice.  We recently learned that Anderson’s The Master star Joaquin Phoenix will be handling the lead role in the 1960s Los Angeles private detective story, and now word comes that production is gearing up to begin in a few short months.  Hit the jump for more.

Fresh off their polarizing yet undeniably impressive collaboration on The Master, director Paul Thomas Anderson and Joaquin Phoenix are looking to team up for another project.  THR reports that Phoenix is now in talks to star in Anderson’s adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice, which takes place in 1969 Los Angeles and centers on a private detective who is helping a former lover with an intriguing case that involves infidelity, mental institutions, and policemen called “Bigfoot.”  Robert Downey Jr. had long been circling the lead role, but the actor apparently decided to pass on the project.

Anderson recently described his screenplay adaptation for Inherent Vice as more “secretarial” than his adaptation for There Will Be Blood, but I wouldn’t necessarily bank on the filmmaker making a wholly accessible film—especially with Phoenix in the lead role.  The actor was a force of nature in The Master, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what the two cook up for this project.  Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, which financed The Master, is once again producing.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for the book.

Though director Paul Thomas Anderson’s drama The Master was certainly one of the most polarizing films of 2012, it looks as if he’s tackling some more straightforward subject matter for his next feature.  Anderson has been eyeing an adaptation of the Thomas Pychon novel Inherent Vice for a few years now, and he worked on nabbing financing for the pic early last year, at the same time that he got The Master financed.  Last we heard, Anderson was working on the screenplay with Robert Downey Jr. keen on tackling the starring role, and now post-Master Anderson has talked a bit more about the project, revealing that he hopes to start shooting next year.

Hit the jump to see what Anderson had to say.

Back in December 2010, we reported that writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson was considering an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon‘s Inherent Vice possibly starring Robert Downey Jr. as pothead private detective Larry “Doc” Sportello.  In 2011, Anderson tried to get financing for Vice along with his upcoming film The Master, which recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival, play at TIFF, and then open in limited release on September 14th.  Anderson has now turned his attention back to Inherent Vice and is currently working on the script.

Hit the jump for more including how Inherent Vice isn’t the only Pynchon novel on Anderson’s radar.

When first announced that Paul Thomas Anderson is planning to adapt the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice, it was noted that Anderson’s agency hoped to attach another client, Robert Downey Jr., to the project.  Flash forward to last week: Anderson is close to finding financing for Inherent Vice, and Downey is said to be interested in the role.  Risky Business posted a report this weekend that indicateds Downey’s commitment to the film has “recently grown serious,” with plans to shoot Inherent Vice in the fall.

Downey recently wrapped production on Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, with The Avengers up next on his schedule and Iron Man 3 in early 2012.  But his departure from Oz the Great and Powerful left an opening on his post-Avengers calendar.  More after the jump:

If you’ve been yearning for a new Paul Thomas Anderson film like the rest of us cinephiles, we’ve got some very good news for you. It looks like billionaire heiress Megan Ellison (daughter of Oracle boss Larry Ellison) is in negotiations to co-finance not one, but two new Paul Thomas Anderson films! The writer/director had been working on a religious drama said to revolve around the founding of a Scientology-like religion tentatively titled The Master, but was getting nowhere finding financing (this is Hollywood after all; just look at the vitriol spewed at Paul Haggis following his denunciation of Scientology).

The film was set to star Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the founder of a spiritual movement called the Cause, with Jeremy Renner taking on the role of his young protégé. Vulture reports that Renner was forced to drop out of the project given his full schedule (offers started pouring in following his Oscar-nominated turn in The Hurt Locker), but Hoffman is still attached to the film. Hit the jump for much more, including the status of Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pychon’s period crime-drama Inherent Vice.

Robert Downey Jr. continues to be one of the most in-demand actors working today.  Just yesterday, we reported the news that Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will be Blood) is hoping to cast Downey in his upcoming adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Inherent Vice.  Now, we have news that Warner Bros is developing an untitled musical comedy for Downey to star in.  The film will focus on two Broadway songwriters having to take jobs as counselors at a theater camp after their latest musical flops.  Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, who previously won the Pulitizer and three Tony awards for their rock opera Next to Normal, will be writing and developing the music for the film.  You can hit the jump to find out what other projects Robert Downey Jr. has coming up.

Now that Paul Thomas Anderon’s The Master has been postponed indefinitely, what will the acclaimed filmmaker turn his attention to now?  According to Vulture, Anderson is interested in adapting the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice.  The book follows “Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello, a pothead private eye wandering through the Summer (and winter) of Love in 1969 Los Angeles.”  Anderson is reportedly writing a treatment and may have even started in on the script.

Anderson’s agency, Creative Artists, is considering trying to get Robert Downey Jr. to play Sportello, but Vulture’s source cautions that there’s currently no official involvement with the actor and his schedule is packed until November 2011 anyway.  While I’m a fan of Downey, I’m also a huge fan of Anderson and want to see him get to work on a new film sooner rather than later.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of Inherent Vice.