New reports are suggesting Reese has been offered a role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film – below are two reports with further details:

Reese Witherspoon Offered A Role In Paul Thomas Anderson’s Untitled Relgion Pic? Shooting Starting In June?
Things have been pretty quiet on the Paul Thomas Anderson front and his new untitled religion picture, affectionately known as “The Master” by fans.

Loosely — or not so loosely — based on the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard (read our review of a very early draft of the script), we know that Philip Seymour Hoffman will play the messianic lead, Jeremy Renner will play Freddie Sutton, the drifter character that becomes The Master’s right hand man, and we know that Universal passed on the project and River Road is footing the bill (the company that produced Terrence Malick’s “Tree Of Life” and Doug Liman’s “Fair Game”; Honcho Bill Pohlad is also an investor in distributor Apparition, so don’t be surprised if the film ends up there).

Now comes a few more details from the latest issue of Production Weekly. According to their intel, Reese Witherspoon has been offered a role in the picture and the production is eyeing a June start date. Producing is John Lesher, Pohlad and Jo Anne Sellar.

June is next week if it actually starts on the first. Could the production really be this ready to go and no one’s really reported that yet?

Zero further details are given, but we would assume that if Witherspoon takes a role, it’s one of the the Master’s daughters who acts as his caretakers and vigilant lieutenants (possibly the one named Mary-Sue). Witherspoon is also attached to McG’s “This Means War,” which is supposed to start shooting in July, so that could be a potential conflict if she even agrees to the role (she’s also currently shooting “Water For Elephants”). However, all of the daughters’ roles in the draft that floated around earlier this year were pretty tiny. Sure, it was an early script and things must have certainly changed, but we can’t imagine it’s been completely deconstructed.

There is one small role of a prostitute who also hooks up with Renner’s character, but that role, while reoccurring throughout, does feel pretty small too. Witherspoon can be pretty commanding when she needs to be — her company is called Type A productions after all — and some have joked she’s not that far removed from the Tracy Flick character she portrayed in “Election,” so we think she would be pretty good for the key daughter who oversees her father’s business and best interests.

But again, it is just an offer. She could easily turn it down, there were some salacious bits with the daughter in that early draft, we’ll just have to wait and see and hope this report uncovers more info.

- theplaylist.blogspot.com

Reese Witherspoon May Be Joining Paul Thomas Anderson’s Next Film
There’s really no upcoming movie more worth your anticipation and excitement than the untitled project Paul Thomas Anderson is working on, the story widely believed to be based on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Aside from simply being the next project from the always fascinating Anderson, the movie had already assembled a killer cast– Philip Seymour Hoffman in the lead, Jeremy Renner as his sidekick, and who knows what other kind of Anderson regulars to fill in side roles.

So how would Reese Witherspoon being added to the cast change your feelings about it? The Playlist picked up a report in the print edition of Production Weekly that claims Witherspoon has been offered a role in the film, which starts production in June. It’s not clear what the role might be, and given that The Playlist has read the script and wasn’t able to find too many substantial female roles, it’s hard for them to imagine what role Witherspoon might actually play. Then again, scripts change, and we know so little about what Anderson is up to that things could have changed drastically since the draft The Playlist saw.

Witherspoon is currently starring in the film adaptation of Water for Elephants, which just started filming and presumably wouldn’t leave her free to play a major role anyway. So maybe she really is popping in for a cameo, maybe because she was such a fan of There Will Be Blood? It seems unlikely, sure, but Witherspoon has proven she has smart instincts in the past– maybe she really is making a run toward the arthouse.

– cinemablend.com