Joaquin Phoenix stares down Josh Brolin in first ‘Inherent Vice’ image

There are a million reasons to look forward to Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice: 1) It’s a new freaking PTA movie. 2) It’s based on Thomas Pynchon’s excellent Inherent Vice. Actually, reasons three to one-million are pretty much just variations on those first two points.

But the cast is very appealing too, and we finally have our first look at two of its stars in character.

Courtesy of EW is this pic of Joaquin Phoenix as perpetually-stoned private detective Doc Sportello, staring down Josh Brolin’s cop “Bigfoot” Bjornson. They both look quite simian, don’t they?

Also starring in this psychedelic missing-persons tale: Benicio Del Toro, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Joanna Newsom, Maya Rudolph, and Martin Short.

It hits US cinemas December 12, with a local release to follow.