“Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello, a private eye based in Los Angeles in the late 1960s. He’s a believer in the psychedelic free-love era, and his case involves an ex-girlfriend, her real estate billionaire boyfriend and a kidnapping.”

Hmm…Robert Downey Jr as a hippie detective sounds pretty promising. He’s no stranger to playing oddball detectives either, after his work in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Singing Detective. The movie is set to be directed be Paul Thomas Anderson, and it’s one of the two projects being funded by his super-cool (and super-rich) benefactor, the other one being his Scientology dart-throw The Master. We’ll see if RDJ is unconcerned enough about his thetan levels to work with Anderson. (via Deadline)

Ellison, a listed producer on True Grit, is giving Anderson several sacks of money to help make:

The Master, which is about the formation of a Scientology-eque religicult, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is interested in a lead role. Paramount ultimately passed on the movie last year, but now it looks like the project’s thetans are aligning once more.

Inherent Vice, based on a novel by reclusive author Thomas Pinchon, is a psychedelic, late-60′s detective story. Anderson is part-way through the script, and Robert Downey Jr. is interested in a lead role. Of course he is. If your movie doesn’t star Robert Downey Jr., Johnny Depp or James Franco, you’re obviously doing something wrong.

Armed with a gigantic novelty check from Oracle, hopefully Anderson can now make these cool-sounding movies. I’m glad that Ellison wants to produce good movies, rather than star in abominable ones, like some heiresses. (/Film)

What do you get when the world’s most reclusive author and a notoriously paranoid Hollywood filmmaking sensation meet somewhere in the smoke-filled depths of creative abstraction and start comparing notes? Presumably, you get a pretty damn good movie. Sources have confirmed that writer/director P.T. Anderson is looking to adapt author Thomas Pynchon’s somewhat-praised 2009 novel, Inherent Vice, for the big screen. The book, which follows Larry “Doc” Sportello, a pot-smoking private detective, on his trip through the mixed-up culture-collision of late-60s Los Angeles, is the latest offering from Pynchon, who hasn’t made a public appearance in several decades.

Though no one can say how far Anderson has taken the project, sources close to the director state that he has already written a treatment and may now be working on a script for the adaptation. Additionally, another source has said that Creative Artists, Anderson’s agency, is considering Robert Downey Jr. for the role of Sportello. Downey’s involvement, however, has not been confirmed.

News of Anderson’s latest project comes just a short time after his plan to make a film based on the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard “fell through” in September. More likely, Scientologists harassed Anderson until he had no choice but to abandon the project. And now he’s on to a project about paranoia? Seems a little convenient, doesn’t it…XENU?! (Vulture)