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The Master (Sept. 14)

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a 1950s spiritual movement that seems to have similarities to Scientology, the Hollywood-friendly belief system that L. Ron Hubbard founded in 1952. ''[Scientology] was one of the bigger movements at the time, but there were a lot of movements at that time,'' says Hoffman. ''There's nothing about how I'm behaving or talking that echoes [Hubbard]. I thought of a lot of other bigger-than-life personalities, charismatic people like Orson Welles.'' In fact, the movie's central figure isn't Dodd at all but a damaged alcoholic named Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), who feels adrift in the years since fighting in World War II. ''Joaquin's character is like a beaten dog,'' says Hoffman, who adored working with the famously intense Phoenix in his first big-screen appearance since 2010's faux documentary I'm Still Here. ''No matter where he goes, [Quell] gets into severe trouble. And somehow I'm able to deal with him.'' —Rob Brunner

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Image Credit: Phil Bray