As pot head private eye Larry 'Doc' Sportello, Joaquin Phoenix is squarely at the center of Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, but his twisty-turny detective adventure puts him on the path to meet a full circus of very kooky characters. Ready to meet some of them?
The official Inherent Vice website has been publishing a series of absolutely beautiful posters inspired by the film, and each one highlights a different zany personality that Doc Sportello deals with while in the midst of trying to solve a case involving his mysterious ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterston) and her Nazi-wannabe land developer boyfriend (Eric Roberts). Highlighted above is Josh Brolin's Lt. Det. Christian F. "Bigfoot" Bjornsen, a hard-nosed '50s-styled LAPD detective who is constantly all over Sportello's case. But he is only the first in this parade.
Next up we have Benicio Del Toro in the role of Sauncho Smilax, Esq. He is Doc's friend and attorney... though he mostly specializes in maritime law. As luck would have it, a mysterious boat plays a very large part in Inherent Vice's plot.
Here we have Owen Wilson's Coy Harlingen, and what's interesting about him is that he's first introduced as a dead man. Jena Malone's Hope Harlingen, who is also featured on this poster - hires Doc to track Coy down, because she believes that he isn't actually dead.And you know what? She's right!
Our fourth poster features a character who somewhat straddles the line between law & order and the hippiedom of 1970 Los Angeles. Reese Witherspoon plays Penny Kimball in Inherent Vice, and is both a deputy district attorney, and Doc's current squeeze.
Finally there's Hong Chau as Jade, an employee of the massage parlor Chick World who Doc strangely finds himself repeatedly running into as he works to solve his various cases. She's not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but she does come in handy when it comes to figuring out just what the hell is going on.
Inherent Vice is currently only out in limited release, but it won't be long until those of you outside of Los Angeles and New York will be able to see it. The film will be expanding nationwide on December 9th, and you should definitely check it out - it's truly fantastic.
