Terrence Malick

[whaleallright]

It's not infrequently the people at the bottom who most vigorously defend the very rules that put and keep them there.

That's, sadly, a very timely insight.

[flyonthewall2983]

James Newton Howard on how they met and almost worked together on a film about Jerry Lee Lewis

[Monkey Ballz]

Terry does H. B. Halicki:

https://vimeo.com/631369663?fbclid=IwAR ... 4oYVnrH6Zs

[hearthesilence]

Old news, but I was reminded that sometime during the 1980s Malick was writing or developing an adaptation of Walker Percy's classic 1961 fiction novel The Moviegoer. He eventually gave up on the project, but during a rare appearance at a preview screening of a not-quite-finished The New World on December 26th, 2005 in Bartlesville, OK, one fortunate admirer asked him if he was still planning to make it, and he replied “No, I don’t think the New Orleans of the book exists anymore.”

I thought this was news to me, but when I did a search, I found that Kent Jones mentioned this aborted project in passing in the very first paragraph of his essay for Criterion's reissue of The Tree of Life - I definitely read the essay when I bought the disc back in late 2018, but I wasn't familiar with the book yet, so it's likely that made it easy for me to forget. Nevertheless, one wonders if any ideas Malick was working on while adapting Percy's book were used or further developed for The Tree of Life. The book feels like a blueprint for a quintessential Malick film, where a man drifts from his daily trappings (either domestic or professional) and goes on an existential journey of sorts, wandering through different locations without any concrete direction while reflecting on the world around him. That's essentially what Sean Penn's character is doing in The Tree of Life whereas past characters would have some kind of narrative context that would ground such wanderings within a constructed plot (exploring a new land, escaping military duty, etc.)

[beamish14]

The website of nonprofit organization Missing Movies, which was responsible for getting Nancy Savoca’s Household Saints back in circulation, states that Deadhead Miles has been restored

[FrauBlucher]

A few tidbits from The Way of the Wind Wikipedia page

A subplot revealed by Röhrig concerns Jesus not wanting Saint Peter, one of his disciples, to partake in a political movement to fight the Roman occupation. Jordan Raup of The Film Stage said there are no scenes of Jesus performing miracles, "making for a rather grounded approach". Mark Rylance, who plays Satan, said Satan has more dialogue than Jesus in scenes featuring the two.

Kassovitz told the French radio station RFM that Malick filmed an average of five hours per day, leading to 3,000 hours of footage by the end of filming. Editing commenced in 2019, immediately after filming ended. As of 2024, Malick was still editing the film.

It's been so long it's probably off almost everyone's radar

[pistolwink]

The website of nonprofit organization Missing Movies, which was responsible for getting Nancy Savoca’s Household Saints back in circulation, states that Deadhead Miles has been restored

Any updates on this? It's a very fun movie, even though its director essentially disowned it (and it seems to have never gotten a commercial release) -- shows a very different side of Malick, as do some of the other films he wrote but didn't direct.

[denti alligator]

Karaindrou scoring the Jesus film is the most exciting news, for me.

[John Cope]

Karaindrou scoring the Jesus film is the most exciting news, for me.

I would agree with that but I thought I heard somewhere that he had another composer for it now. I really hope that's incorrect as the idea of Karaindrou scoring a Malick film, and this one in particular, is tremendously intriguing and has indeed always been one of the most intriguing elements of this project. Still, I wouldn't be shocked if it turns out to be accurate just given how much time has passed (not to mention how many cuts).

[denti alligator]

Her Angelopoulos scores are stunning. I think her style would suit Malick's images very well. Fingers crossed.

[FrauBlucher]

The IMDB page also has her listed as the composer. And oddly it already has a running time of 1h 43m listed

[beamish14]

The website of nonprofit organization Missing Movies, which was responsible for getting Nancy Savoca’s Household Saints back in circulation, states that Deadhead Miles has been restored

Any updates on this? It's a very fun movie, even though its director essentially disowned it (and it seems to have never gotten a commercial release) -- shows a very different side of Malick, as do some of the other films he wrote but didn't direct.

No, but the ball is probably still in Paramount’s court. It seems like a title destined for Vinegar Syndrome

It did get a very limited release at the time of its production, and likely had some revival screenings into the 80’s. I’d love to know if Paramount has been prints at the present time

[Noiretirc]

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025/1 ... e-released

Maybe Tarantino will take it from here?

[beamish14]

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025/1 ... e-released

Maybe Tarantino will take it from here?

The Telegraph has zero credibility, and neither does World of Reel

[yoloswegmaster]

Almost 2026 and people are still posting links from WoR...

[Noiretirc]

Erm.....

So, which way is the wind blowing on this film?

Anyone?

(Edit: And for the record, I respect Alexander Larman. Sue me.)

(Edit again: I later received a 24hr ban for expressing my true feelings (deleted by Mod) about posts above. Just sayin'.)

[pistolwink]

There's no evidence in that "article" to support the claim in the clickbait headline.

[pistolwink]

The website of nonprofit organization Missing Movies, which was responsible for getting Nancy Savoca’s Household Saints back in circulation, states that Deadhead Miles has been restored

Any updates on this? It's a very fun movie, even though its director essentially disowned it (and it seems to have never gotten a commercial release) -- shows a very different side of Malick, as do some of the other films he wrote but didn't direct.

No, but the ball is probably still in Paramount’s court. It seems like a title destined for Vinegar Syndrome

It did get a very limited release at the time of its production, and likely had some revival screenings into the 80’s. I’d love to know if Paramount has been prints at the present time

I did a little research into this once upon a time, and despite some references to Deadhead Miles having an opening in Kansas City, there's no evidence that it was actually commerically released at all. It seems as though it was just shelved by Paramount and then an archival copy was dug up in the early 1980s to be shown at a couple festivals. It's a very funny movie!

[beamish14]

Any updates on this? It's a very fun movie, even though its director essentially disowned it (and it seems to have never gotten a commercial release) -- shows a very different side of Malick, as do some of the other films he wrote but didn't direct.

No, but the ball is probably still in Paramount’s court. It seems like a title destined for Vinegar Syndrome

It did get a very limited release at the time of its production, and likely had some revival screenings into the 80’s. I’d love to know if Paramount has been prints at the present time

I did a little research into this once upon a time, and despite some references to Deadhead Miles having an opening in Kansas City, there's no evidence that it was actually commerically released at all. It seems as though it was just shelved by Paramount and then an archival copy was dug up in the early 1980s to be shown at a couple festivals. It's a very funny movie!

I wish someone would make a comparison between what is on the bootlegged copy taped off of A&E circa 1989 and what briefly streamed on Amazon.

[WrathOfAguirre]

Bilge Ebiri: "Terrence Malick’s Disciples: Why the auteur is the most influential director in Hollywood"

[hearthesilence]

I'm surprised he didn't mention Beasts of the Southern Wild, but I guess it's because we haven't really heard much from the filmmakers since then.

[pistolwink]

Good article. Two things strike me:

• The first time I realized that Malick's "late style" had become a major reference point was watching Man of Steel (2013)—the scenes of Clark Kent's childhood in Kansas have Malick, and Tree of Life in particular, written all over them. Prior to this I had mostly seen his influence in a few indie films and (a lot of) ads.

• Pretty much every movie Ebiri mentions, and the others that came to mind (including Beasts of the Southern Wild) are somewhere between mediocre and terrible. I have mixed feelings about 21st century Malick, but on the evidence it does seem like maybe it's best to admire the films and not to emulate them.

[zedz]

I'm surprised he didn't mention Beasts of the Southern Wild, but I guess it's because we haven't really heard much from the filmmakers since then.

They made a peculiar sideways Peter Pan movie called Wendy that I was unfortunate enough to see (and had completely forgotten about until I read your question). Suffice to say, it’s no City of Pirates.

[hearthesilence]

I'm surprised he didn't mention Beasts of the Southern Wild, but I guess it's because we haven't really heard much from the filmmakers since then.

They made a peculiar sideways Peter Pan movie called Wendy that I was unfortunate enough to see (and had completely forgotten about until I read your question). Suffice to say, it’s no City of Pirates.

I actually do remember that film. I haven't seen it, but I remember it was filmed in 2017, sold to Searchlight Pictures the following year, and then stuck in limbo for nearly two full years before it premiered to little fanfare at Sundance, which seemed like a bad sign.

[Brian C]

It was literally the last movie I went to see before everything shut down because of Covid. By that point, things were bad enough that I felt a little gross going out at all, and even though I was the only person in the theater for that film, I decided about 5 minutes in that I wasn’t into it and that it had about zero chance of holding my attention. So I just left, in what was my last leisure outing for months. I think 2 days later, Chicago issued their shelter-in-place order or whatever it was called.