Mike Fleming

After dropping out of the Alfonso Cuaron-directed Gravity, word is Robert Downey Jr is eyeing Inherent Vice, an adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon mystery novel. Downey would play Larry “Doc” Sportello, a private eye based in Los Angeles in the late 1960s. He’s a believer in the psychedelic free-love era, and his case involves an ex-girlfriend, her real estate billionaire boyfriend and a kidnapping. Downey is next booked to star in Iron Man 3, and has given his blessing to his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang director Shane Black to replace Jon Favreau. Not surprisingly, there was no comment from Downey’s camp. CAA will piece together the funding for Anderson’s next film, and the director likes to be discreet about them. He had been attached to direct The Master, with his Boogie Nights buddy Phil Seymour Hoffman attached to play a guy who hatches a belief system that mushrooms into a religion, and Jeremy Renner was eyeing the role of his right-hand man. Reese Witherspoon was also in the loop. That project got dropped by Universal, which choked on a $35 million budget, but a combination of Warner Bros and Cross Creek Pictures and another financier was in place to fund a streamlined version of the picture. Stay tuned. Downey just wrapped the Sherlock Holmes sequel at Warner Bros.