Joaquin Phoenix has flirted with joining a lot of films since his self-reflexive work in I’m Still Here – he was courted for Armie Hammer’s role in J. Edgar and met for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – but he has yet to pick up a follow-up project. Perhaps he was just holding out for a big fish: Variety reports that the actor is in talks to join The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s thinly veiled Scientology drama which found financing in February. If he signs, he’d play the roughneck apprentice to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s religious leader; Jeremy Renner was at one point attached to the role, but has since gone on to film Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol with high-profile Scientologist Tom Cruise. [Variety]