Undeterred by seeing his passion project (working title The Master) collapse, Paul Thomas Anderson appears to be readying another project in place of it.

Vulture is reporting that the Magnolia auteur wants to adapt novel Inherent Vice for the big screen. Written by Thomas Pynchon, it’s a comedic detective story set in 1969 Los Angeles about a private investigator (with a fondness for mind-altering substances) who becomes involved in a missing persons case and soon finds himself drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions, surrounded by a colour cast of LA characters.

What’s more, an unofficial report claims that Anderson’s agency is trying nab Robert Downey Jr. for the role of Doc Sportello, the pot-smoking detective.

Anderson and Downey Jr. together working on a period piece about Los Angeles (a city they both hail from and a place they have a real affinity for) sounds like a mouth-watering proposition indeed.

Let’s keep our fingers-crossed that Anderson manages to get this one made.