In May 2012 , Anderson screened the film for his friend , actor Tom Cruise , an outspoken Scientologist , who had some issues with parts of the film . Cruise had previously starred in Anderson 's 1999 film '' Magnolia '' . Officials of the Church of Scientology , who reportedly heard from Cruise , " hit the roof " when they learned of a scene which suggested that the belief system was a product of the leader 's imagination . The scene with which Cruise had issues involves Dodd 's son telling Quell that Dodd is just making it up as he goes along . They took issue not only with this statement , but with the way it supposedly paralleled L. Ron Hubbard , Jr. 's conflict with his own father . While church members objected to other scenes , Anderson did not excise any of them from the film . He stated that Cruise " did see the film . It 's something between us . Everything is fine , though . " The film won the Silver Lion for Best Director ( Paul Thomas Anderson ) and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor ( given to both Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman ) at the 69th Venice International Film Festival . However , the festival 's jury originally intended to give the film the top Golden Lion prize for Best Film ; the prize was removed and awarded to '' Pietà '' instead , owing to a new rule that prohibited the award of acting and directing honors to the same film that won the Golden Lion prize . A similar incident was rumored to have occurred at the festival in 2008 , when Darren Aronofsky 's '' The Wrestler '' was to be awarded both the Golden Lion and the Volpi Cup for Mickey Rourke 's performance . The film received the former , with the latter being awarded to Silvio Orlando for his work in '' Giovanna 's Father '' . When asked about the last-minute shake-up over the award , Anderson replied : " I 'm thrilled with whatever they want to hand over . I heard some of the scuttlebutt recently , but I 'm just thrilled with what they hand over . And that 's all . " '' The Master '' was listed on many critics ' top ten lists for 2012
69th Venice International Film Festival
69th Venice International Film Festival
The Master (2012 film)