On Location: Immersed in the world of 'The Master'

Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" is set in a richly colored, Todd-AO widescreen-feeling America circa 1950, boldly ascending from the horrors of World War II without yet comprehending the trauma incurred. It's a sometimes squeaky-clean surface under which lurks the "animal" nature that the charismatic philosophical leader known as Master (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) decries, especially in protégé Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a troubled Navy veteran. Production designers Jack Fisk and David Crank agree that the key to bringing that era to life in a way that served the story was to keep it out of the museum.

By Michael Ordoña

December 27, 2012