“The Hunger Games” star Jena Malone has joined the already large and still very much growing cast of Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon novel “Inherent Vice”, according to The Wrap. Joaquin Phoenix stars, with Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Benicio Del Toro and Martin Short in supporting roles.

Phoenix plays Larry “Doc” Sportello, a pothead/private investigator in 1970s Los Angeles, who’s paid a visit by his ex-girlfriend (Witherspoon) with concerns that there may be a plot to harm her new boyfriend, a rich businessman. Soon enough both of them go missing and Doc encounters a large, colorful cast of characters in his quest to track them down. Malone is up for the role described as an ex-druggie who asks for Doc for help, who fans of the book will pinpoint as Hope. She’s the partner of Wilson’s character Coy Harlingen, who appears to have died in a drug overdose but is very much a part of the entire twisty turvy story. Del Toro has a small role as Doc’s lawyer while Short’s character has not been unveiled. Filming begins this month, and there’s still plenty more weird characters to cast. UPDATE: PTA fansite Cigarettes and Red Vines reports Malone will actually be playing Japonica Fenway, a runaway and Doc’s first case as a detective.

Last seen on the big screen opposite Emily Browning in Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch”, Malone recently appeared on hit TNT mini-series “Hatfields & McCoys” and is attached to play acclaimed novelist Carson McCullers in “Lonely Hunter.” She will also, of course, appear this November in the pivotal role of Johanna Mason in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”