Acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson (“Boogie Nights,” “There Will Be Blood”) has encountered a formidable roadblock in his efforts to get his next project off the ground.

According to Total Film’s latest print edition (via Playlist) the writer/director’s ambitions to begin shooting his 1950s era religious drama, “The Master,” starring Jeremy Renner and Phillip Seymour Hoffman this August, have fallen through.  And according to Renner, the project has been “postponed indefinitely at this point.”

“I was really bummed about that,” Renner revealed. “It really kind of stalled because when we were rehearsing — Phil, Paul and myself — we kept coming up against a wall that we couldn’t overcome. Or at least Paul couldn’t overcome.”

The script details the inception and rise of a new religion called The Cause — an obvious stand-in for Scientology — under the calculated direction of its charismatic leader — a proxy for L. Ron Hubbard — and his understudy, Freddie Sutton.  The roles would have been filled by Hoffman and Renner, respectively.

Some speculation fingers the Church of Scientology, with its strong Hollywood presence and history of underhanded tactics used to deal with its detractors, as a key player in the demise the project, though there is no evidence as of yet to suggest this is the case.  The more likely reason being that challenging, intellectual dramas tackling taboo subjects like religion are just generally less likely find financing in the current studio climate.