679 replies to this topic

[Overstreet]

According to a quick trip through some stories at The Guardian, IMDB, and various online chats about sci-fi and Mel Gibson, it looks like the next Terrence Malick film may be Tree of Life.

Colin Farrell and Mel Gibson are the actors supposedly involved, but it sounds like something along the lines of 2001: A Space Odyssey, beginning in some pre-historic era and jumping forward in time. (And that's interesting, considering how I've heard The New World compared to 2001 several times.)

But this all sounds very vague and speculative. Who knows?

Anybody here heard about this? (I see Peter mentioned it in his blog about a year ago.)

Edited by Overstreet, 25 May 2011 - 09:32 AM.

[opus]

I wonder how this will differentiate itself from The Fountain, which is also a sci-fi movie about the tree of life, and which involves jumping through various time periods.

[Sundered]

My dad is connected to the Christian film industry, and I heard one of his friends mention this movie. Apparently part of it's set before mankind, part of it's on a farmhouse, and part of it's in the future? But that's all third-hand information, so I have no idea how accurate it is.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Jeffrey Overstreet wrote:
: Anybody here heard about this? (I see Peter mentioned it in his blog about a year ago.)

Yup, and I just checked to see if we had any previous threads on the film, but to my surprise, it doesn't seem like we did. (I didn't search for "tree of life", because our search engine can't handle two-letter words. But I did search for "malick", and I can't imagine that any thread on this film would NOT have mentioned his name.)

If memory serves, I asked producer Sarah Green if there was any news about this film at the junket for The New World, but not surprisingly, she wouldn't say anything about Malick's plans for the future. They seem to be very in-flux anyway -- remember how he was once associated with that Che Guevara movie?

The shortest gap between Malick movies is, what, five years? (I'm thinking between Badlands and Days of Heaven.) And of course there was a whopping TWENTY years between Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, and then another seven years before The New World. So I'd be very surprised if Malick were to start shooting another film so soon.

But hey, stranger things have happened.

[M. Leary]

Anybody here heard about this? (I see Peter mentioned it in his blog about a year ago.)

Here is a link to the original news item from 2005. There are some comments about halfway down here about a 1978 Malick project that sounds similar :

"And yet in the summer of 1978, Malick had begun work on Q-easily his most ambitious project. The original concept was a multicharacter drama set in the Middle East during World War I, with a prologue set in prehistoric times. But after dispatching an assistant for 10 weeks to scout locations, Malick chucked the Middle East section. By the end of the year, the prehistoric prologue had become the whole script.

'Imagine this surrealistic reptillian world,' says Richard Taylor(now with WETA) a special effects consultant Malick hired. "There is this creature, a Minotaur, sleeping in the water, and he dreams about the evolution of the universe, seeing the earth change from a sea of magma to the earliest vegetation, to the dinosaurs, and then to man. It would be this metaphorical story that moves you through time.'"

The IMDB trivia section for Tree of Life connects these two projects. It sounds rather mytho-poetical, perhaps his success with The New World convinced him he could also do Q.

I wonder how this will differentiate itself from The Fountain, which is also a sci-fi movie about the tree of life, and which involves jumping through various time periods.

I wondered about that as well, but this may just be an accident of timing. I have read numerous sci-fi short stories and novels about jumping through various time periods that have all been excellent in and of themselves. I would be more than willing to watch both!

[Tim Willson]

Peter Chattaway wrote:
: I'd be very surprised if Malick were to start shooting another film so soon.

Malick is one of the producers of Amazing Grace, though, which came along soon after The New World. Not sure how 'hands-on' his production role is, though.

Edited by Tim Willson, 21 August 2006 - 03:19 PM.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Ledger, Penn take part in Malick's 'Life'
Heath Ledger and Sean Penn are in talks to star in "Tree of Life," with River Road Entertainment finally bringing writer-director Terrence Malick's long-gestating drama to life. Ledger would take the lead opposite an actress to be determined, with Penn in a supporting role. Malick also is in talks, with principal photography set to begin in March. . . . "New World" lead Colin Farrell was in talks to star in the feature two years ago, with about a third of the shoot set for India, but the star and location are no longer part of the project. . . .
Hollywood Reporter, October 29

[Overstreet]

The comments on this Jeffrey Wells post contain just about all of the details currently available on this project... which isn't much.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Pitt in talks to star in 'Tree of Life'
Brad Pitt is in talks to climb into "Tree of Life," a drama Terrence Malick wrote and will direct. . . . Pitt, who recently ankled the Universal Pictures drama "State of Play," would replace Heath Ledger, who was skedded to star with Sean Penn in the Malick-directed drama, which begins production in the spring.
Variety, December 18

- - -

Wait a minute ... wasn't Pitt attached to the similar-sounding The Fountain several years ago, and didn't he drop out of that film at the last minute, just as he recently dropped out of State of Play?

[Peter T Chattaway]

Pitt wanted 95 percent discount on resort stay
Sean Penn and the Jolie-Pitts all living under the same roof? For a brief time, such thing was a possibility.
Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and kids set up camp in Texas for nearly a month as Pitt filmed “Tree of Life.” Penn, who also stars in the film, arrived on set last week, and if the cost of Pitt’s accommodations hadn't been an issue, Pitt and Penn might have both ended up staying at the same place. . . .
The Scoop, MSNBC.com, April 7

- - -

Feels weird to be reading about a Malick film in a gossip column, of all things, but then, the column itself never even MENTIONS Malick. At any rate, this, as far as I know, is the first announcment anywhere that the film is actually already in production.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” Needs Babies
Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life Casting Call.
ShortFilmTexas.com, February 21.

‘Tree of Life’ set in Waco?
It’s no secret that director Terrence Malick likes to keep his projects under wraps until they hit theaters. If the practice of signing non-disclosure agreements to work on a film wasn’t already around, Malick would’ve pioneered it. But being particularly interested because the movie is filming three blocks from my house in Smithville, I’ve been able to piece together a few things. (But as Adrien Brody, “star” of “The Thin Red Role,” can tell you, it’s all subject to change.)
Michael Corcoran, Austin360.com, April 11

[Peter T Chattaway]

Chastain to star opposite Pitt in 'Tree'
Jessica Chastain has been cast opposite Brad Pitt in the drama "Tree of Life," written and directed by Terrence Malick. . . .
The story concerns the loss of innocence as seen through the eyes of the son of the characters portrayed by Pitt and Chastain. . . .
Variety, April 15

[Overstreet]

Austin360 blogs:

‘Tree of Life’ — Storied Austin auteur Terrence Malick is keeping a characteristically tight shroud on the production of his original, 1950s period piece, which continues its long shoot through June in Smithville and occasionally Austin. Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, a dog, a baby and a tall tree star in what IMDB.com describes as an action/adventure/drama/fantasy/sci-fi epic, and offers this plot outline: ‘In a mystical world of folklore, several individuals embrace in a race to find the Tree of Life, said to give immortality, fertility and other supernatural powers.’ An Austinite who worked on the film said that when Malick saw a butterfly land on an actor’s head, the director chased the insect around with the camera for a half hour. That’s signature Malick, who’s working again with illustrious cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (’The New World,’ ‘Sleepy Hollow’). Read more local reports about the film at the Austin Movie Blog.

[Another Midnight Run quote:] "Sounds like our man." [Midnight Run]

[Overstreet]

Videos of the "tree of life" being moved from one place to another, by truck and by crane, with a flyover shot from a helicopter.

[Overstreet]

A plot summary (including the ending!)

[Peter T Chattaway]

I suspect this rumour is utterly bogus -- if Malick were shooting this film in IMAX, wouldn't we have already heard about it by now? -- but still, just for the record, let's link to it.

[Overstreet]

Dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs!

I think I'm going to be grinning for a week.

[M. Leary]

What do you call a Malick dinosaur?

A philosophaurus.

Edited by MLeary, 03 March 2009 - 12:08 PM.

[Peter T Chattaway]

MLeary wrote:
: What do you call a Malick dinosaur?
: A philosophaurus.

[Overstreet]

By now we've all obviously heard that Terrence Malick's "Tree Of Life," has grown into two films. One will be a drama starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain (pictured) and the second will be an a panoramic and extensive natural history segment/ IMAX movie that features dinosaurs and depicts, "the birth and death of the universe."

But apparently the second film is now called, "The Voyage of Time." Google searches bring up many references (with photos too) and an Awards Daily commenter from Austin that says "I can confirm that Malick is working on a parallel project entitled 'Voyage of Time.' "