Billionairess to PTA's rescue? (VUL)

By Nancy Tartaglione

Vulture reports that Megan Ellison, the 25-year-old billionairess daughter of Oracle boss Larry Ellison, may be coming to the rescue of two Paul Thomas Anderson films: an untitled Scientology drama and the director's adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's 2009 stoner detective novel, "Inherent Vice."

Robert Downey Jr is said to be interested in the lead role of "Inherent Vice" who has an opening in his schedule in the fourth quarter of this year since dropping out of Sam Raimi's "Oz, the Great and Powerful."

Ellison is said to be in negotiations to co-finance Anderson's untitled religious drama, (aka "The Master") which Anderson shelved last September. Jeremy Renner is no longer attached, Vulture reports, but Philip Seymour Hoffman is apparently still interested.

Ellison, meanwhile, has clearly evolved considerably in recent years. While it's true that she projected the image of a carefree party girl a few years ago, serious producers and top-level agents around town now say they take her very seriously, no doubt in part because she co-financed the Oscar-nominated, $150 million-grossing Coen brothers remake of True Grit with her brother David, but also because she seems to have great taste and an open-checkbook to pay for it: She's also co-financing The Wettest County in the World, an adaptation of Matt Bondurant's novel about a family of Depression-era bootleggers, with director John Hillcoat (The Road) directing Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf.