The Master (2012 film)

The Master
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paul Thomas Anderson
Produced by	JoAnne Sellar Daniel Lupi Paul Thomas Anderson Megan Ellison
Written by	Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring	Joaquin Phoenix Philip Seymour Hoffman Amy Adams
Music by	Jonny Greenwood
Cinematography	Mihai Mălaimare Jr.
Edited by	Leslie Jones Peter McNulty
Production company	JoAnne Sellar Productions Ghoulardi Film Company Annapurna Pictures
Distributed by	The Weinstein Company
Release date	September 1, 2012 (2012-09-01) (VFF) September 14, 2012 (2012-09-14) (United States)
Running time	137 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$32 million
Box office	$28.3 million

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	74/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Consequence of Sound	C+
Drowned in Sound	8/10
musicOMH

The Master is a 2012 American psychological drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. It tells the story of Freddie Quell (Phoenix), a World War II veteran struggling to adjust to a post-war society, who meets Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman), a leader of a religious movement known as "The Cause". Dodd sees something in Quell and accepts him into the movement. Freddie takes a liking to "The Cause" and begins traveling with Dodd along the East Coast to spread the teachings.

It was produced by Annapurna Pictures and Ghoulardi Film Company and distributed by The Weinstein Company. With a budget of $30 million, filming began in June 2011, with cinematography provided by Mihai Mălaimare Jr. Jonny Greenwood was the music composer and Peter McNulty film editor. The film was partly inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, as well as early drafts of There Will Be Blood, drunk Navy stories that Jason Robards had told to Anderson prior, and the life story of John Steinbeck. The Master was shot almost entirely on 65mm film stock, making it the first fiction feature to be shot and released in 70 since Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet in 1996.

Initially, the film was set up with Universal, but fell through due to script and budget problems. It was first publicly shown on August 3, 2012, at the American Cinematheque in 70 mm and screened variously in the same way, and officially premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 1. where it won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film. It was released on September 14, 2012, in the United States to critical acclaim, with its acting, screenplay, direction, plausibility and realistic resemblance to post-World War II Americans praised. It further received three Academy Award nominations: Best Actor for Phoenix, Best Supporting Actor for Hoffman, and Best Supporting Actress for Adams. In 2016, The Master was voted the 24th greatest film of the 21st century by 177 critics from around the world.