Inherent Vice: Will Thomas Pynchon's playlist feature in Johnny Greenwood's score?

Shasta (Katherine Waterston) and Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix)

Inherent Vice

"She came along the alley and up the back steps the way she always used to. Doc hadn't seen her for over a year. Nobody had. Back then it was always sandals, bottom half of a flower-print bikini, faded Country Joe & the Fish T-shirt. Tonight she was all in flatland gear, hair a lot shorter than he remembered, looking just like she swore she'd never look." first paragraph, Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice sets release date for December 12, 2014

Dig those crazy sideburns!

Joaquin Phoenix really came back from the edge, didn't he? After that whole bizarre performance act schtick just left people befuddled, the actor has steadily delivered one intriguing performance after another and now - like that other great reinvention, Matthew McConaughey - Phoenix is back to being one of our most beguiling actors. I'm still aglow from his performance in Spike Jonze' Her and just seeing Phoenix in Doc Sportello's retro garb in the production stills - plus the fact that it's set in a mythical beach town in my own back yard - has me all aflutter. I'll have to cool it until December 12th but, come on, take a look at those sideburns! I think I dated that guy! His name was George.

The cast of Inherent Vice includes Katherine Waterston as Doc's ex girlfriend, Shasta, Jena Malone and Owen Wilson as Hope and Coy Harlingen, with Reese Witherspoon (Penny), Josh Brolin (Bigfoot Bjornsen), Maya Rudolph (Petunia Leeway), Benicio Del Toro (Sauncho Smilax), and Sasha Pieterse as Japonica Fenway. Will have to wait and see how the size of those roles play out in Paul Thomas Anderson's production. The December 12, 2014 release date puts the movie in prime time for awards qualification; the film has wrapped and there must be an early cut that looks promising. On the other hand, it's a Paul Thomas Anderson film with a mind-blowing cast; it was bound to get great placement before a single frame was shot.

Haven't read Pynchon's Inherent Vice yet? It's clearly much easier going than Gravity's Rainbow, which we're hearing Anderson may adapt as well. Whaaat? I'm telling you right now, no way I'm going to try reading Gravity's Rainbow again. No way.

Check out the publisher's description for Inherent Vice and don't miss Pynchon's own playlist plus the book trailer below. Pynchon's voice has a cool gravel to it and while a lot of book trailers are simply goofy, this one is Groovy with a capital G. Listen and watch through to the ending which should make you laugh out loud. It did me anyway.

Part noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon- private eye Doc Sportello surfaces, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era. 

In this lively yarn, Thomas Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre that is at once exciting and accessible, provides a classic illustration of the principle that if you can remember the sixties, you weren't there.

It's been a while since Doc Sportello has seen his ex- girlfriend. Suddenly she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. It's the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this one usually leads to trouble. Undeniably one of the most influential writers at work today, Pynchon has penned another unforgettable book.

Still listening? Look what I found over at Amazon; Doc's playlist courtesy of Thomas Pynchon! Who else is hoping that Johnny Greenwood, the composer and Radiohead/Weird Sisters guitarist that Anderson used to score both There Will Be Blood and The Master, brings some of these classics into the soundtrack? London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is on board; the thought of strings and The Beach Boys "God Only Knows" has my little heart swelling! 

"Bamboo" by Johnny and the Hurricanes
"Bang Bang" by The Bonzo Dog Band
Bootleg Tape by Elephant's Memory
"Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles
"Desafinado" by Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto, with Charlie Byrd
Elusive Butterfly by Bob Lind
"Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra
"Full Moon in Pisces" performed by Lark
"God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
The Greatest Hits of Tommy James and The Shondells
"Happy Trails to You" by Roy Rogers
"Help Me, Rhonda" by The Beach Boys
"Here Come the Hodads" by The Marketts
"The Ice Caps" by Tiny Tim
"Interstellar Overdrive" by Pink Floyd
"It Never Entered My Mind" by Andrea Marcovicci
"Just the Lasagna (Semi-Bossa Nova)" by Carmine & the Cal-Zones
"Long Trip Out" by Spotted Dick
"Motion by the Ocean" by The Boards
"People Are Strange (When You're a Stranger)" by The Doors
"Pipeline" by The Chantays
"Quentin's Theme" ("Dark Shadows")  performed by Charles Randolph Grean Sounde
Rembetissa by Roza Eskenazi
"Repossess Man" by Droolin’ Floyd Womack
"Skyful of Hearts" performed by Larry "Doc" Sportello
"Something Happened to Me Yesterday" by The Rolling Stones
"Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman
"Soul Gidget" by Meatball Flag
"Stranger in Love" performed by The Spaniels
"Sugar Sugar" by The Archies
"Super Market" by Fapardokly
"Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen
"Telstar" by The Tornados
"Tequila" by The Champs
Theme Song from "The Big Valley" performed by Beer
"There's No Business Like Show Business" by Ethel Merman
Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer
"Volare" by Domenico Modugno
"Wabash Cannonball" by Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
"Wipeout" by The Surfaris
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys
"Yummy Yummy Yummy" performed by Ohio Express

Hop over to the link to hear some of the tracks.

What would dope-smoking Doc think of our changing marijuana laws I wonder; would he still be living at the beach or would he have hightailed it to Colorado? Probably stay here and like everyone else rely on legal medical marijuana to ease the pain of a 'bad back'.