Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming religion film potentially adds a few women to its cast!

Here's the story from Collider:

With director Paul Thomas Anderson’s (There Will be Blood) upcoming untitled religion film is getting ready to begin production this month, so we should expect some casting news in the coming weeks. The sure to be great (and controversial) film will be about “a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952.” Philip Seymour Hoffman has already been confirmed for the lead role of “The Master” and he’ll be joined by Jeremy Renner, who will be playing a drifter named Freddy who becomes the leader’s lieutenant. Last week we also reported that Reese Witherspoon was being offered the role of The Master’s much younger pregnant wife, Mary Sue

Now, Production Weekly (via The Playlist) is reporting that Amanda Seyfried (Dear John), Emma Stone (Zombieland), and Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood) are all being considered for the role of Elizabeth, The Master and Mary-Sue’s daughter. We’ll know soon enough who gets the part but with Seyfried filming The Girl With The Riding Hood and Stone filming The Help soon, it will be interesting to see how the schedules shake out. I’m sure Anderson will get a great performance out of the actress he ends up choosing but I do think it’s fascinating that all three actresses are in their 20s and will be playing the daughter of Reese Witherspoon, who is 34 years old. The Playlist says that in a previous draft of the script, the role was smaller but now may have been expanded. They also say it “will be an eye opener for any fans of the actress who lands the role.”

-I like what PTA is doing so far, and what I've read about the script sounds great...thoughts?

Could Jeremy Renner be joining PTA's religion film with PSH?

Well, that's the rumblings found here in Deadline:

After the disappointing box office returns on Paul Greengrass’s thoughtful but vastly expensive action polemic Green Zone, what’s gonna happen with a new Paul Thomas Anderson drama that won’t get made by Universal because of its $35 million budget? I’m hearing talks are serious for Bill Pohlad’s River Road to fully finance a film that will star Philip Seymour Hoffman as a charismatic intellectual who in the 1950s becomes the leader of a start-up religion that takes off like wildfire. The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner is circling the role of a young drifter who becomes his right hand man but begins to question his mentor and the whole belief thing. The presence of Oscar winner Hoffman and Oscar nominee Renner gives PTA another Oscar-bait movie, and a topical one, as the storyline questions long established religions as well as comparative upstarts like Scientology and Mormonism. But the $35 million price tag was blasphemy to some indie distributors who considered the package.

I’m also hearing that PTA’s longtime agent and former Paramount honcho John Lesher is likely to join as producer alongside Anderson’s longtime collaborator, Jo Anne Sellar. River Road seems a strong fit, given Pohlad's affection for auteur fare. He made possible the Terrence Malick-directed The Tree of Life with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, as well as the Warner Bros castoff Fair Game, the Doug Liman-directed drama about outed CIA op Valerie Plame which stars Penn and Noami Watts. Pohlad is principal investor and partner with Bob Berney in the distribution shingle Apparition. It's unclear if Berney will get the PTA film, though it seems right in the distributor's wheelhouse. Apparition next distributes The Runaways for Pohlad.

-From what I've heard about the script, it'd be a great casting choice...thoughts?

PTA to reunite with PSH on a new film...

...that could potentially be about L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology (but not exactly), according to this article in Variety. Sorry for the silly headline, but I couldn't resist, as you'll see in a moment. That being said, Paul Thomas Anderson is a huge talent and he always seems to do well with Phillip Seymour Hoffman. To quote my good friend and co-writer Myles Hughes, "PTA and PSH have never let me down yet".
-Thoughts on this potential project?