A new Laravel project can not be created in PhpStorm or IntelliJ IDEA: Unable to find interpreter null

Problem

Upon creating a new Laravel project in the New Project wizard with the Laravel Idea plugin enabled, the Unable to find interpreter null error is shown, and the process cannot be completed: 

Cause

A PHP Interpreter is not defined for the project.

Resolution

• Select the existing PHP interpreter in the field under the Initialize Git repo checkbox:
  
  or
• Configure a new local or remote PHP Interpreter by clicking on the three-dot button.