942 The Tree of Life

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
chaddoli
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 11:41 pm
Location: New York City
Contact:

942 The Tree of Life

#1 Post by chaddoli » Tue Jun 13, 2006 8:47 pm

The Tree of Life

Image

Four decades into an already legendary career, Terrence Malick realized his most rapturous vision to date, tracing a story of childhood, wonder, and grief to the outer limits of time and space. Reaching back to the dawn of creation, Malick sets a story of boyhood memories on a universal scale, charting the coming of age of an awestruck child (newcomer Hunter McCracken) in Texas in the 1950s, as he learns to navigate the extremes of nature and grace represented by his bitter, often tyrannical father (Brad Pitt) and his ethereal, nurturing mother (Jessica Chastain, in her breakout role). Shot with nimble attention to life's most fleeting moments by Emmanuel Lubezki, the Palme d'Or–winning The Tree of Life marks the intimately personal, cosmically ambitious culmination of Malick's singular approach to filmmaking.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

• New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Terrence Malick and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New extended version of the film featuring an additional fifty minutes of footage
Exploring "The Tree of Life," a 2011 documentary featuring collaborators and admirers of Malick's, including filmmakers David Fincher and Christopher Nolan
• New interviews with actor Jessica Chastain and visual-effects supervisor Dan Glass
• Interview from 2011 with composer Alexandre Desplat about the film, and a new interview with music critic Alex Ross about Malick's approach to music
• Video essay from 2011 by critic Matt Zoller Seitz
• Trailer
• More!
• PLUS: An essay by critic Kent Jones and a 2011 piece on the film by critic Roger Ebert

User avatar
Oedipax
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:48 am
Location: Atlanta

#2 Post by Oedipax » Tue Jun 13, 2006 11:37 pm

chaddoli wrote:Tree of Life

Though the details on this are still sketchy, supposedly this will be an epic essentially portraying the origins and evolution of mankind. Very vague, I know, but it couldn't sound any better to me. A new Indian production company is producing, apparently at a $150 million budget, which sounds outlandish. But, if even a bit of this information is true, well then....

Sidenote but this is a very interesting article on Malick and the struggle to make The Thin Red Line from a 1998 issue of Vanity Fair.
Thanks for the article, it was a good read. Very cool to hear Malick is apparently fond of Il Posto.

User avatar
Floyd
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 10:25 pm

#3 Post by Floyd » Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:15 am

I am just glad Malick found this Indian production company before Uwe Boll's Germany deal expired. What Malick did on his more constrainted budgets was so wonderful it is a real thought to think that he will be getting about $100 million more than what his max film budget was. This could be a good or bad thing though. Perhaps the budget restrictions is a piece of what Malick has done, who knows. It sounds exciting that he is hitting a cinematic making stride here though. He finally has realized he isn't getting any younger.

User avatar
Barmy
Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 3:59 pm

#4 Post by Barmy » Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:22 am

No Ben Chaplin?

Roger_Thornhill
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:35 pm

#5 Post by Roger_Thornhill » Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:59 pm

According to this article Malick is almost done shooting and will be traveling to India in August with Colin Farrel and Mel Gibson to finish it up.

User avatar
John Cope
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:40 pm
Location: where the simulacrum is true

#6 Post by John Cope » Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:28 pm

Wow. That's hard to believe. That can't be right, can it?

rs98762001
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:04 pm

#7 Post by rs98762001 » Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:11 pm

Sounds like nonsense to me. And, according to IMDB, Shailendra Singh is a Bollywood playback singer, not a producer of any kind.

User avatar
The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

#8 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:18 pm

The company mentioned in the Times of India article (Percept Picture Company) is definitely involved with the film, at least according to this press release and various other sources. Numerous other sources name Shailendra Singh as the company's managing director (just Google "Shailendra Singh" +percept). There's no reason to conclude it's the same Shailendra Singh listed on the IMDb, although it very well could be.

User avatar
Antoine Doinel
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Contact:

#9 Post by Antoine Doinel » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:46 am

I haven't read the article (my computer at home is a little out of commission and my work computer is under lock and key from installing new programs like winrar) anyway, I find it surprising that any studio is handing over Malick $150 million dollars when none of his movies have ever come close to making that amount. Even New World didn't break even with it's theatrical release, and was with a pretty Hollywood cast. I am presuming there is some kind of government loophole that will allow Sahara One to get back their losses?

All said, the movie sounds interesting, but like someone else thread a virtually unlimited budget for Malick could be just as much a bad thing as a good one.

User avatar
ltfontaine
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 3:34 pm

#10 Post by ltfontaine » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:00 am

I'm disappointed to learn that Mel Gibson and Colin Farrel will figure into Malick's next film. Farrel was a lead weight in The New World, which suffered generally from leaden performances by movie stars. And oh my, movie star + leaden performances certainly = Mel Gibson.

User avatar
Cold Bishop
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 9:45 pm
Location: Portland, OR

#11 Post by Cold Bishop » Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:54 am

Antoine Doinel wrote:I find it surprising that any studio is handing over Malick $150 million dollars when none of his movies have ever come close to making that amount. Even New World didn't break even with it's theatrical release, and was with a pretty Hollywood cast. I am presuming there is some kind of government loophole that will allow Sahara One to get back their losses?
Maybe were underestimating the combined potential of the Indian market thrown into the equation?

Roger_Thornhill
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:35 pm

#12 Post by Roger_Thornhill » Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:12 pm

ltfontaine wrote:I'm disappointed to learn that Mel Gibson and Colin Farrel will figure into Malick's next film. Farrel was a lead weight in The New World, which suffered generally from leaden performances by movie stars. And oh my, movie star + leaden performances certainly = Mel Gibson.
I've head that Gibson has a small role. And yeah I'm not sure if that Times of India article is right or not, it does seem too good to be true that Malick will be done shooting a film less than a year after the release of his last one. Of course he'll probably edit for seven years.

User avatar
chaddoli
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 11:41 pm
Location: New York City
Contact:

#13 Post by chaddoli » Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:28 pm

yay! more news!
The Hollywood Reporter wrote: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.

River Road founder Bill Pohlad will produce with Sarah Green, Malick's producer on his last feature "The New World."

The film's plot has been closely guarded, but is described by an insider as a complex drama.

"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.

If anyone has the muscle to bring "Life" to the screen, it's River Road.

The company produced Focus Features' highest-grossing film "Brokeback Mountain" starring Ledger, and Penn's recent directorial effort for Paramount Vantage, "Into the Wild."

Other projects the outfit has partly or totally produced and financed include Focus' "Lust, Caution" and the recent Roadside Attractions pickup "Chicago 10."

Penn has been a longtime Malick supporter and friend, starring in his war drama "The Thin Red Line." Ledger appears in "I'm Not There" and next summer's Batman feature "The Dark Night."

Ledger, Penn and Malick are repped by CAA.

User avatar
miless
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:45 pm

#14 Post by miless » Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:59 pm

I heard that Lubezki will be the cinematographer. I sure hope that's true.

User avatar
Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

#15 Post by Jeff » Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:03 pm

It's also on Coming Soon's list of films that are pre-strike priorities for the studios, with the same March start date. That 2008 release date is looking awfully optimistic now. Considering Malick's dilatory working style, fall 2009 seems realistic.

Supposedly, Tree of Life is the project (once called "Q") that Malick first started work on 30 years ago -- the one that frustrated him so much that he left filmmaking. A 1995 article from Los Angeles magazine discussed the topic.
n 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 reptilian world," says Richard Taylor, 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."

Malick covered a lot of ground and spent a bundle of money preparing to film Q. By midsummer 1979, Paramount had become very frustrated trying to reconcile the mounting bills with the director's ever-evolving concept.

"It got to the point that whatever people wanted, he wouldn't give it to them," Taylor remembers. "Because he was expected to make a movie, he'd say, 'I don't want to.' One day he went to France, and that was it." What was thought to be a brief vacation turned into a permanent one. Says Witliff: "I think the more applause he got, the more frightened he got."

Much of Malick's life since has been spent avoiding that fright. He lives now with his second wife (a former Parisian guidance counselor whom he married in 1988 and her daughter. He writes and travels, spending half his time in Paris and the other half at his apartment in Austin, with stopovers in Oklahoma to visit his brother and father. Or he pops up on either coast. In the last few years, Malick was said to be in New York working as an adviser on an experimental film; visiting Sam Shepard (the farmer in Days of Heaven) in Virginia armed with a 250-page version of Q that Shepard thought "absolutely brilliant but virtually unfilmable," according to mutual friend, writer-director Chris Cleveland; and attending a Pasadena Playhouse production, where screenwriter Tom Rickman asked him what he'd been doing lately. "Nothing" was the reply.

User avatar
miless
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:45 pm

#16 Post by miless » Wed Oct 31, 2007 6:27 am

no matter what he is working on, I cannot wait for Malick's next film. Let's just hope it's up to par (which I'm sure it will be)

User avatar
Awesome Welles
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:02 am
Location: London

#17 Post by Awesome Welles » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:14 am

Malick chucked the Middle East section. By the end of the year, the prehistoric prologue had become the whole script.
"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."
absolutely brilliant but virtually unfilmable
Director's pet projects always sound so good, but then it seems that they gestate for so long the director becomes confused about the story and the emotion that intitially gripped them has dissipated and what they end up filming is nostalgia for that idea. I hope I'm wrong because this does sound great! I just I'll be approaching with caution.

User avatar
Michael
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm

#18 Post by Michael » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:56 am

I'm very thrilled about this new Malick project. Every film of his keeps getting better but I can't even imagine Malick topping The New World, which remains his magnum opus. Will see.

User avatar
Antoine Doinel
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Contact:

#19 Post by Antoine Doinel » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:17 am

Heath Ledger and Sean Penn have signed on to star. The India locations are now out.

User avatar
tavernier
Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2005 7:18 pm

#20 Post by tavernier » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:19 am

We already had this link a few posts back.

User avatar
kaujot
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 6:28 pm
Location: Austin
Contact:

#21 Post by kaujot » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:08 pm

Boo to Sean Penn.

I've always wanted to track down his place in Austin. He occasionally teaches a philosophy course at UT, and I could have sworn I saw him once in Burdine hall. The guy looked EXACTLY like the photo taken during the filming of The Thin Red Line.

User avatar
HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

#22 Post by HerrSchreck » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:12 pm

But, if Bresson could have his Genesis project...
Or Dreyer his Jesus project..

I'm glad Coppola didn't get his MEGAFLOPOLIS project.

For it is written on many eastern bathroom walls (strike lotus posture, raise a finger of wisdom): He who flush one man's (Abel Gance) Great Masterpiece shall have his great own dream flushed too. It Is Written.

User avatar
miless
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:45 pm

#23 Post by miless » Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:46 pm

FSimeoni wrote:Director's pet projects always sound so good, but then it seems that they gestate for so long the director becomes confused about the story and the emotion that intitially gripped them has dissipated and what they end up filming is nostalgia for that idea. I hope I'm wrong because this does sound great! I just I'll be approaching with caution.
Well, Malick is making (what sound like) radical changes to the concept of the film, so maybe he's in a new place with it.

I think this film sounds interesting because it seems so unlike everything else Malick has done (either based upon historical events, or pretty basic dramas)... For some reason I keep imagining what The Fountain should have been.

User avatar
malcolm1980
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:37 am
Location: Manila, Philippines
Contact:

#24 Post by malcolm1980 » Fri Nov 02, 2007 3:18 am

If I'm not mistaken, if this film pushes through on time, it would be the shortest period in between Terrence Malick films.

User avatar
miless
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:45 pm

#25 Post by miless » Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:00 am

malcolm1980 wrote:If I'm not mistaken, if this film pushes through on time, it would be the shortest period in between Terrence Malick films.
according to Billy Weber, editing always takes a majority of the time for a Malick film. (up to 2 years for Days of Heaven)
So I wouldn't be quite so optimistic.

Post Reply