PTA’s New Film “Confirmed” As Modern-Day Set ‘Vineland’

After months of speculation, Daniel Richtman appears to have confirmed what I was theorizing in March of 2023: that Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film will be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland.”

However, much like I stated a few weeks ago, it does look like PTA’s adaptation will bring the novel up to present day, with newcomer Chase Infiniti co-starring with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Here’s what Richtman has to say about “Vineland” and Infiniti’s casting from his Patreon:

Actress Chase Infiniti has been cast as the lead in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film. I have also confirmed the movie will adapt Thomas Pynchon’s novel, Vineland but making it contemporary. The original novel was set in Reagan-era America, so he’s updating it to modern US.

And here’s a synopsis for “Vineland,” which has been described as an unfilmable novel, so it would make sense that PTA would decide to take liberties with the source material:

A group of Americans in Northern California in 1984 are struggling with the consequences of their lives in the sixties, still run by the passions of those times — sexual and political — which have refused to die. Among them is Zoyd Wheeler who is preparing for his annual act of televised insanity (for which he receives a government stipend) when an unwelcome face appears from out of his past.

Here's the thing. If it’s not Vineland, then why are things just lining up in the direction of a Pynchon adaptation? The Vineland rumor should have been shut down as soon as we saw set photos, but have only intensified since. They are filming at exactly the same location where the novel takes place, Leo's mustache and clothing is exactly like the character he’s supposed to be playing in the book, Zoyd Wheeler, and the character also has a daughter that resembles Infiniti.

Oh, and on page 8 of “Vineland,” Zoyd says, "You called me, remember?" — in a video taken by a fan, DiCaprio says practically the same line at the phone booth outside the grocery store.

It also looks as though the film will be shot spherically in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. No cinematographer has been seen on-set — does this mean PTA will again be his own DP?

PTA has mentioned the novel, “Vineland,” numerous times over the years, and in a 2014 Time Out interview even insinuated that he tried to script it: “I'd wanted to adapt “Vineland”, but I never had the courage. It seemed to be a great way to translate [Pynchon] into a movie.”

“I read Vineland a couple of months ago, and there were sections where I felt like I was just floating. I got a high out of it.” — Rolling Stone

“There’s a stack of books I haven’t read yet, and yet I find myself constantly re-reading “Vineland.” It’s borderline pathological.” — IndieWire