A new trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master has gone online. The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as World War II veteran Lancaster Dodd, who’s haunted by his experiences, and decides to form his own religion as a result. Joaquin Phoenix plays a drifter who becomes Dodd’s right-hand man. This new trailer gives us our first look Dodd, who comes off as equal parts creepy and quietly charismatic. I got a few chills when Dodd tells Phoenix’s character, “I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, a theoretical philosopher but above all I am a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you.” Dodd is reportedly based off Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and as the Village Voice reports, Hubbard would often tell people he was a physician and nuclear physicist even though he was neither. The trailer also gives us our first look at Amy Adams as Dodd’s wife, who slightly resembles Hubbard’s third wife, Mary Sue Hubbard. However, the film looks like it will be using the founding of Scientology as a launching point for a fictional drama rather than serving as a backdoor biopic of L. Ron Hubbard.

Hit the jump to check out the latest trailer. The film also stars Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons, and David Warshovsky. The Master opens October 12th.

Trailer via the official website (thanks to Collider reader @Mattcici for the heads up).