The Master, the new film from Paul Thomas Anderson, has joined the competition slate at this year’s Venice Film Festival, according to Deadline. In addition, we are also hearing that an appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival is likely.
It’s become clear in the last week or so that the film’s distributor, The Weinstein Co., is prepared to give The Master one of its patented first-rate Oscar pushes. Buzz continues to build based on the early trailers for the film as well as a release date bump up to September 21st, 2012, which puts it in good position for Awards season.
Venice begins at the end of August, and The Master is expected to make its debut in a prime slot on Saturday, September 1st. The film’s inclusion in the festival comes after it being noticeably absent when the lineup was officially announced.
Toronto, one of the biggest and brightest of the Fall festival circuit, would be another big move to ramp up excitement for the September 21st release. An appearance at Telluride seems to be less likely, however. Still, with an appearance at both Venice and TIFF, awards prospects are looking very promising for the film.
The Master stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a religious figure loosely based off of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams also star.