If you walked into The Master wondering if it would answer questions about Scientology, you may have left with new ones about moonshine. In Paul Thomas Anderson's latest, emotionally unhinged World War II veteran Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) becomes an unlikely disciple of spiritual guru Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Freddie initially wins Dodd over with a unique gift: moonshine, manufactured from odds and ends (including paint thinner) found aboard Dodd's yacht. Throughout the film, we also see Freddie distill alcohol aboard a navy vessel, on a cabbage farm, and in a photo lab, each time creating the hooch from available materials. Curious about the plausibility of this hobby, we called up Colin Spoelman, who makes handcrafted (and legal) moonshine at the Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn. As it turns out, Spoelman worked on The Master, in an indirect sort of way: When the production crew decided to make...
- 9/24/2012
- by Gwynne Watkins
- Vulture
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