Hollywood is kind of a messed up place. This is actually the central premise to Terrence Malick’s new movie Knight of Cups. Christian Bale plays a man trying to deal with the insanity that is Hollywood. Bale himself is a very private person who tries to stay out of the Hollywood scene as much as possible when he’s not actually acting. This has a tendency to lead to problems for the actor when he’s on set, as he can’t tell the actors from the extras.

Christian Bale spends so much time outside of Hollywood that he is apparently not that familiar with many of his fellow actors. In his defense, his Knight of Cups director was apparently no help in this regard. According to Bale’s interview with EveningStandard, Terrence Malick wouldn’t let Bale know which people on the set were actors and which were not, and even went as far as to lie to him, telling him that some actors were actually extras. This led to what must have been an incredibly odd conversation for one actress on the set.

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during that conversation. We’re dying to know how Teresa Palmer responded to the actor’s questions. She must have realized that Christian Bale had no idea who she was and just gone along with it. Otherwise it wouldn’t have taken him a week to figure it out. Of course she may have had instructions from Terrence Malick not to tell him. That sounds like something he would do. We suppose it could all be a testament to Palmer’s acting ability that she was so good in the role that Bale assumed she was a professional. That’s...something.

Part of the problem that likely led to the confusion is the fact that Christian Bale never had a copy of the script. He was apparently just dropped into scenes for Knight of Cups, and Terrence Malick would just direct him to go interact with people on the set. Apparently everybody else knew what was going on, but he did not.

So apparently combining Terrence Malick’s bizarre style of making movies with Christian Bale’s tendency to ignore Hollywood leads to some odd experiences for professional actresses. We’re very curious to see what Knight of Cups will finally be when it comes out early next year.

Landing the chance to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens must have been the opportunity of a lifetime for J.J. Abrams. Like many of us, he’s a big old Star Wars nerd and a lifelong devotee of that far, far away galaxy. But beyond that, he’s also a fan of cinema of all varieties, and his influences are wide, varied, and apparent in many of his films, traits that we will see on display in a few weeks.

As The Force Awakens creeps ever closer, the coverage is getting thick and deep. The latest edition of Empire is all over the Star Wars beat, and when they talked to Abrams, he revealed a trio of big, yet unexpected influences on his upcoming addition to the beloved space opera. They may not be the inspiration you normally expect to find in an epic space adventure, but they’re certainly all readily apparent if you look for them.

John Ford Westerns

Renowned for westerns like The Searchers, Wagon Train, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, among many others, John Ford is responsible for some of the biggest, boldest, most sweeping films the genre has to offer. Abrams looked to "the confidence" of Ford’s films, and his use of stunning wide shots and massive, sprawling landscapes is certainly on full display in what we’ve see from The Force Awakens thus far, especially in the desert scenes on Jakku. As a saga, Star Wars has always borrowed tropes from serialized adventures of earlier cinematic days, many of which were westerns, and like George Lucas before him, Abrams also lifts from the western, and if you’re going to ape anyone, it may as well be John Ford.

Akira Kurosawa’s High And Low

Akira Kurosawa is most widely known for his samurai epics like The Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, which were themselves highly influential on westerns (the former was remade in the U.S. as The Magnificent Seven, while the later was reinvented as A Fistful of Dollars). His 1963 film, High and Low, a police procedural about an executive at a shoe company full of Shakespearean themes and symbolic imagery, is what Abrams specifically cites as his influence for Star Wars, bringing the Japanese auteur’s "unbelievable scene choreography and composition" to his science fiction adventure. The scenes we’ve seen of the Resistance base, where Abrams’ camera swoops through the crowd, almost soaring despite being low to the ground, moving between Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega), and the intricate, meticulous staging are what this statement calls to mind.

Terrence Malick

Though he’s never been a prolific filmmaker, Terrence Malick’s movies have a distinct feel and aesthetic—it’s easy to tell you’re watching one of his films, or someone mimicking his style. There’s a tranquility to many of the images he puts on screen, a quiet that nevertheless belies a great weight and tension—he’s fond of capturing seemingly peaceful moments in the midst of great chaos, like war—and J.J. Abrams deliberately studied what he called "the powerful stillness." He says, "It’s not something I would normally have though of coming to Star Wars," but it’s definitely there. We’ve heard that Rey (Daisy Ridley) was left on the desert planet Jakku by her parents, and that she lives a spare, Spartan life of solitude, and the shots of her walking across the barren landscape with BB-8, or of her eating by herself, very much apart from the life that teems around her, wear the sparse feel of Malick on their sleeves.

The first trailer for Terrence Malick’s new film Knight Of Cups has been released and it is just as peculiar and beautiful as you’d expect. It also gives us a look at Knight Of Cups’ rather magnificent cast, which boasts arguably the three best actors in Hollywood at the moment. You can check out the clip below.

As you can probably tell, Knight Of Cups won’t be for everyone. But Terrence Malick does appear to have embraced a more mainstream plot that looks as though it will revolve around Christian Bale’s attempt to juggle relationships with both Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman. Along the way he will almost certainly incorporate the usual visual decadence and subtle plotting that has become a hallmark of his films too.

The fact that Knight Of Cups features the combined acting talent of Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman is enough to intrigue any passionate moviegoer though. But it doesn’t stop there. The rest of the ensemble is packed out with Brian Dennehy, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Wes Bentley, Teresa Palmer, and Imogen Poots, while Ben Kingsley’s voice will also feature in some fashion too. Not too shabby.

Of course the fact that Terrence Malick is widely regarded as one of the most visually innovative and compelling filmmakers in the history of cinema is the reason why each of these actors leapt at the opportunity to join the ensemble for the film. Plus, he also has developed a rather wonderful habit of coercing career-defining performances from each of his cast too. The fact that he oversaw Sean Penn in The Thin Red Line, Martin Sheen in Badlands, and Richard Gere in Days Of Heaven is proof of that.

But why is there so much excitement and furore over Knight Of Cups? Well because, at the moment, Terrence Malick is on quite the hot streak. Having previously only directed four films in 32 years, since 2011 he has been hard at work on five films. These have included 2011’s The Tree of Life and 2012’s To The Wonder. Terrence Malick even shot Knight Of Cups back to back with Project V, both of which should be out at some point in 2015. Meanwhile he’s also currently working on the post-production for Voyage of Time too. In fact, before 2011, Terrence Malick was regarded as so being such a recluse that this screenshot from his brief appearance in Badlands as the caller at the rich man’s house was the best image moviegoers had of the cinematic visionary.

It’s both a relief and a delight that Terrence Malick’s vigour for cinema has returned. And we should all feel privileged to live in an era when we get to see new films from him on a regular basis. You can start to take advantage of Terrence Malick’s recent cinematic streak when Knight Of Cups is released in February 2015.

Terrence Malick is regarded as one of the most illuminating and thought-provoking filmmakers to have ever graced American cinema. There’s just one problem: he has made six feature films in the last four decades. Thankfully, over the last few years he has become more prolific, and his latest film sounds just as weird and wonderful as you’d have expected.

Terrence Malick’s newest film is currently titled Project V, but that is expected to change at some point in the future. Until now, available information about the film had still been at a minimum. But the fine people over at Ryan Gosling Addicted have put their addiction to good use by translating an article from the Italian website, Cinefiols, which has shed a little bit more light on the upcoming project. At the Le Giornate professional del Cinema 2014, which is currently being held in Sorrento, Italy, some footage from the film was aired. And it turns out that Project V will see Ryan Gosling portraying an aspiring rock star.

Project V also includes the prestigious acting talent of Michael Fassbender and Rooney Mara. According to the report, Fassbender’s character is the business partner of Ryan Gosling’s rocker, and the pair work tirelessly together to try and help him reach his musical peak. Meanwhile Rooney Mara is Ryan Gosling’s love interest in the film. The footage also suggests that she has a secret relationship with Michael Fassbender too. Does that mean that we are going to get to see Michael Fassbender and Ryan Gosling trade blows in an attempt to win the heart of Rooney Mara? Let’s hope so. I’d put my money on Fassbender to come out on top.

But that’s not all. Terrence Malick’s rather superb reputation as a filmmaker also saw him convince Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett to join the ensemble too. I think we can all agree that this is a rather smashing quintet of actors for any director to have at their disposal. Natalie Portman’s character becomes entangled with Michael Fassbender while Cate Blanchett reportedly grows closer to Ryan Gosling. Whether any of these actors will actually make the final cut of the film is still very much up for debate though. In fact, Christian Bale has already predicted that he has already been edited out after only filming for three or four days.

The fact that the report states "from the short footage we can guess that Ryan Gosling will star as an aspiring rock star" suggests that what was shown was a bit enigmatic and strange - which is hardly a surprise. Terrence Malick loves to subtly hint at his themes, plot and characterization rather than being overt with them. The likes of The Tree of Life and To The Wonder are testament to how he has a perfect eye for cinematic images - but his divisive approach to plot can leave people cold. Project V has been described as a film that is slow and gradual, while its rhythms and themes allegedly evolve and change over the course of its running time too. But what does all that actually mean? Who knows. It’s Terrence Malick. You just need to sit down, watch it, and feel something. If you like it: great. If you hate it: everyone completely understands.

Terrence Malick is a human wormhole: once you start to try and understand the complex philosopher behind such devastating works of storytelling art as Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Tree of Life, it’s nearly impossible not to get sucked into a vortex of fascinating research and innuendo.

Take, for instance, this extensive piece by the Los Angeles Review of Books that digs into the rich Malick mythology. Smartly titled Hollywood Bigfoot: Terrence Malick and the Twenty-Year Hiatus That Wasn’t, the article, authored by Michael Nordine, explores the eccentric, mysterious director’s life and career … with an emphasis on the 20-year span he spent out of he limelight between 1978’s Days of Heaven and 1998’s The Thin Red Line.

It is a time-consuming read, but a must-absorb for anyone with a passing interest in the myths of Malick. While many believe the director went into seclusion before eventually filming and releasing Thin Red Line, this piece suggests that the filmmaker was actually prolific, but had a tough time closing deals with financiers on various projects because he worked at his own deliberate (slow) pace.

[[ br. ]] Nordine writes, "Malick never truly stopped being a filmmaker; he simply — and temporarily — stopped being one whose unconventional working methods meshed with the more business-minded elements of Hollywood."

Of course, the legends of Malick end up being far more interesting than the reality, and they grew louder and larger the more the director stayed quiet. The most fascinating parts of Nordine’s article focus on projects Malick almost made but eventually dropped - including a Joseph Merrick biopic (which was trumped by classmate David Lynch’s The Elephant Man) and Q, a largely prehistoric film that had little or no narration that kept expanding until few knew exactly what it was about anymore. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Malick.

Malick’s myths continue to this day. He’s working on Knight of Cups, but the cast seems to keep rotating, and we’re not 100% sure when we might see it. Instead, we’ll leave you with Badlands star Martin Sheen discussing Malick with the great James Lipton. Their conversation starts at the 13-minute mark, and Sheen speaks with such love and reverence that we just had to share this.

[[ br. ]]

Anyone who caught Terrence Malick’s Oscar-nominated The Tree of Life understand that there had to exist a longer version of the story at some point during the creative process. Heck, even co-star Sean Penn spoke out to the media at some point after the film’s release and wondered what happened to the footage he shot for the framing story … as most of it landed on Malick’s cutting room floor.

The good news, for Tree of Life fans, is that the reclusive director appears to be restoring a lot of footage for a director’s cut of the film. However, from what we’re hearing, Penn’s scenes likely won’t be the focus. The Playlist caught up with Malick’s editor, Billy Weber, at the TCM Classic Film Festival where they learned about Malick’s Tree tinkering.

He hasn't gotten a parody Twitter feed like Michael Haneke, but Terrence Malick is a similarly fascinating auteur, and even more mysterious. He stopped doing interviews in the 70s, spent 20 years completely off the map before making 1998's The Thin Red Line, and has gone from being one of the world's least prolific directors to one of the most, with three films set for release in the next year or so.

Even though he ought to be busy editing the features Knight of Cups and the untitled one that involves Val Kilmer wielding a chainsaw, Malick is somehow adding even more to the plate-- bringing Zoolander to the good people of Oklahoma. Malick will be the first guest curator of the "Films on the Lawn" series at the Philbrook Museum of Arts in Tulsa, which has held outdoors screenings on its 23 acres of gardens for nearly 40 years. According to the museum's Online Communications Manager Jeff Martin, Malick offered five films for the series, three of which will be shown in addition to Malick's own Badlands in honor of its 40th anniversary. Below is the full list:

"We were kind of dumbfounded too when we saw something like Zoolander, which was out of nowhere," explains Martin, who arranged the series through Malick's associates and didn't meet with the elusive man himself. When Malick was shooting his new film To The Wonder in nearby Bartlesville, the town north of Tulsa where he grew up, several location managers visited the Philbrook Museum, establishing enough of a connection that Martin could go back and ask Malick to serve as the series' first guest curator. The director sent back a list of five films, including the 1959 epic Ben-Hur and the landmark silent documentary Nanook of the North, which will be included as suggested home viewing (an outdoor screening of the nearly four-hour Ben-Hur being a tough summer evening sell).

Martin allows that you might be able to find some similarities between some of these choices and Malick's own work, but as for Zoolander, Malick's associates merely allowed that "these were his personal favorite films." Martin adds, "I think one interesting thing about people like him and interesting artists is they always kind of confound our expectations."

The Philbrook curators are working with Malick's people to provide some introductory remarks to be read before the screenings, but don't count on a lot of definitive answers. "In some ways it's best left unsaid, the mystery of it," Martin says. "Just knowing that it's one of his favorite films is probably better than knowing why."

For more on the museum and Films on the Lawn, visit the museum website.

Here’s the first trailer for Terrence Malick’s new movie To the Wonder. It stars Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams as a couple who meet a priest in Oklahoma and renew ties with childhood friends. At least that’s the official line. In practice, if you’d told me this was Tree of Life 2 before I watched this trailer, I’d have made it all the way through and still believed you.

To the Wonder isn’t a sequel to Tree of Life, but it is very Malicky. Here’s the trailer…

Malick is, as always, a love him or hate him filmmaker. Personally I couldn’t get past Javier Bardem’s narration, which seems to consist mostly of a combination of bad clichés and pseudo-intellectual claptrap said with enough sincerity and grandeur to make it seem profound. I’m going to assume, however, that if you bothered to click play on the above To the Wonder trailer you are a Malick fan and probably feel differently. I won’t hold it against you.

To the Wonder arrives in theaters on April 12, 2013. It’s only 111 minutes long which is, incidentally, incredibly short for a Terrence Malick film. Critics both loved and hated it in nearly equal measure when it debuted in September at the Toronto film festival, which unlike the running time, is exactly in line with what you’d expect from a movie made by the mind behind The New World.

Love the trailer and think I’m a culturless troll? You’re probably right. Tell me off in the comments below.

Terrence Malick movies aren't generally associated with chainsaw-wielding maniacs, or intense violence of any kind really, which is why we're trying and failing to make sense of the new photo from the set of his upcoming movie. With the Fun Fun Fun Fest happening in Austin, Texas, Malick and his actors are on hand to shoot scenes on and around the concert stages, for a film that apparently involves live music (as per usual, Malick isn't saying anything about the film's plot). But while it's one thing to spot Ryan Gosling in the crowd at a concert, it's another entirely to see Val Kilmer onstage, pretending to be a rock star and wielding a chainsaw.

Don't believe me? It really did happen, and The Daily Mail has the photographic evidence. 

Rooney Mara was also up onstage as part of the fictional band, but her look was a whole lot more typical-- beanie hat and minimal makeup. The Daily Mail reports, though, that she was shooting a scene in which she was kissing Michael Fassbender, while just a month ago she was kissing Ryan Gosling in a different scene, and Fassbender was paired up with Natalie Portman. How many romantic pairings is this untitled movie bringing us? And is it more than an excuse to see a bunch of attractive actors make out? Not that I have a problem with that, but Malick is usually known for bringing a bit more to the table in his films.

Malick, the director once famous for taking a 20-year break between films, is so insanely busy right now you'd hardly believe it's the same actor. His latest film To The Wonder premiered in Toronto in September, and he's editing his next film Knight of Cups while shooting this untitled one. It's fair to wonder if this prolific burst of activity is weakening the quality of his work, especially after some harsh reviews for To the Wonder, but we've got two more chances to test it when these other new films emerge in the next year or so. Hopefully they'll come with an explanation of what on earth Val Kilmer is doing with that chainsaw.

With certain films, we know each and every detail about the plot summary, cast, credits, score and (if possible) DVD release date before it even reaches the theaters. And then there are the films of Terrence Malick, to which we know very little … even after we have seen them (Yes, I’m looking at you, The Tree of Life.) So even though we are hours from when Malick’s To the Wonder plays at the Venice Film Festival, we’re just now getting an official plot synopsis, as well as some supplemental details on the mysterious director’s pending effort.

We’ll save the full plot synopsis until the end, as the movie’s spelled out in great detail (courtesy of a release obtained by The Film Stage. First, we want to get to Wonder star Ben Affleck’s comments about the film (of which it’s possible he has been cut). Speaking to Hollywood Elsewhere at the Telluride Film Festival, Affleck said Malick’s new film “makes The Tree of Life look like Transformers.” And in the press notes for Wonder, the actor went on to say, “The film feels to me like more a memory of a life than a literal story in real time of someone’s life, the way movies more commonly are. This pastiche of impressionistic moments, skipping across the character’s life and moving in a nonlinear way, mirror, in my mind, the way one remembers one’s life. It’s a little hypnotic and you’re a little bit in a daze -- it’s more fluid than real life is.”

Oh, man. Sounds like critics will gush, while Joe Public will push Malick lovers out of the way to get to Skyfall. And really, isn’t that the way it goes with most of Malick’s films? He creates for a very specific audience. Often it’s beautiful … and often, it’s largely overlooked. But I’m glad he continues to work.

We’ll catch up with Wonder in Toronto. Until then, Film Stage also acquired the film’s soundtrack listing, and compiled YouTube clips to classical music track that Malick might use in the film. That’s a bit of legwork for songs that the director could slice out (for all we know), so we’ll stick with the full synopsis, which we’re listing below:

After a lengthy delay, Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder is about to make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, followed by an anticipated Toronto bow. But one actress we thought we’d see in Malick’s finished film has landed on the cutting-room floor.

Rachel Weisz confirms to the Italian media outlet La Stampa (via The Film Stage) that the part she filmed for the drama “has been cut.”

This has become the norm for the eccentric filmmaker, who famously snipped such major talents as Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman and Mickey Rourke from his overstuffed ensemble for The Thin Red Line. Other actors such as John Travolta and George Clooney were reduced to mere cameos in the film. And Sean Penn’s part in Malick’s well-received Tree of Life was drastically edited … much to Penn’s own chagrin.

As far as we know, the final cut on Malick’s To the Wonder will feature Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem and Olga Kurylenko in a story about unrequited love in America’s heartland. But in typical Malick fashion, we know very little about the movie beyond the simple logline. We’re just intrigued by the cast, and have come to expect deep, contemplative things from Malick. We’ll see who survived the final cut when we’re able to see To the Wonder in Toronto, and cross our fingers for a theatrical release not long after that.

Because Terrence Malick can’t be bothered with something as conventional as a casting announcement or plot synopsis, we’re often forced to scour fairly unconventional avenues to learn more about his upcoming projects. Like Twitter, where actors will post random updates about their ongoing participation in the latest Malick film … even if we were previously unaware of their involvement.

That’s what happened with Ryan O’Neal (Barry Lyndon, Paper Moon, Love Story), who Tweeted the following photo and update from the set of Malick’s in-production drama Knight of Cups:

Wait, Malick has a Twitter account? That seems unlikely (and sure enough, if you try and search the account, it says it has been suspended). Part of me wants to take this news with a grain of salt. O’Neal hasn’t been associated with Malick’s next film, which we know stars Christian Bale and Freida Pinto with a string of supporting talents. Natalie Portman has been rumored. So has Cate Blanchett, Teresa Palmer, Wes Bentley and Imogen Poots. But O’Neal? First we’re hearing, and the fact that he links to a bogus Malick Twitter – and neglects to name-drop the movie’s title – has me wondering if he’s joking.

We’ll find out eventually if O’Neal really has a role in the latest Malick in time. We’re also gearing up for an actual Malick screening, as Toronto revealed that To the Wonder with Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams will screen at TIFF in September. Cups is all speculation at this point, and it’s easier to swallow when we know we have legitimate Malick on the immediate horizon.

The stories about Terrence Malick are pervasive and almost mythical. A notorious recluse, it's extremely rare (in fact, nearly impossible) to catch him at an industry event or even the premiere of his films. He's obviously a master of his craft but since he makes films at a Kubrickian pace, he often drifts comfortably out of the public eye only to show up once a decade or so with a stunning piece of cinema. However, that doesn't stop the philosophical filmmaker from occasionally sharing his eccentricities with the world at large, like writing a letter to ensure the proper projection settings for all screenings of his gorgeously enigmatic Tree of Life.

Malick's idiosyncrasies know no bounds, a myth built upon stories of the man spending countless hours rewriting, shooting and especially editing his work in order to get the film exactly right. However, this very improvisational and extended mode of filmmaking doesn't sit well with everyone and at a recent round-table for The Daily Beast, Christopher Plummer, Academy Award favorite for Best Supporting Actor in Beginners, let it be known that one film with Malick, The New World, was more than enough for him. In fact, Plummer went so far as to write the director a note, "I gave him shit. I'll never work with him again... I told him, you're so boring you get in these ruts, you've got to get yourself a writer. My career with Mr. Malick is over."

It's rare for someone in the industry to be so honest but Plummer is 82 years old and still doing fantastic, award worthy work so I don't think his career will suffer from these comments. In fact, it's not that he's overly negative about the filmmaker (he actually praises a lot of the finished products) but instead the process in which Malick works. Take a look.

The interview is fascinating, especially since the stories seem to shock the other award caliber actors sitting in and listening - all except George Clooney who has had the (mis)fortune of working with Malick on The Thin Red Line. And for all Plummer's anecdotes, all his quibbles that forced him to write a not-so-nice letter to the director informing him of his need for a writer, the most egregious example of the filmmaker being oblivious to the needs of his actors is the recollection shared by Clooney regarding Adrien Brody's role in The Thin Red Line. It can't be easy to think you're the lead in a film, only to find out at a junket that you have zero lines. Ouch.

Plummer (and Clooney) still praise the undoubtedly talented Malick but not without serious reservations, with Plummer definitely saying that he would never work for the director again. I don't think it's a coincidence that there are very few, if any, actors who return to work with the director but perhaps now that he's a little more prolific, maybe he won't be able to deviate from the scripts as much and ensure that if you were cast as the film's lead, you'll still be the film's lead when you watch it in theaters how ever many months later. Poor Adrien Brody.

With The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick released his first feature film since 2005's The New World. Before that, the last film he both wrote and directed was 1998's The Thin Red Line. Malick definitely believes in quality over quantity. Whatever his approach, it seems to be working out for him. The Tree of Life received plenty of critical praise, not to mention a Palme d'Or from Cannes and a boatload of other awards. With any film that attracts this much positive attention, it's always fascinating to examine the scenes and concepts and ideas considered but abandoned. Now, thanks to the eagle eyes at Off the Coast of Maine, we can take a look at some of those roads not taken from Malick's The Tree of Life.

Movie City News first spotted the blog post, which includes a pretty extensive collection of stills and images that were officially released, but which include moments or scenes that didn't make the final cut of the movie. This isn't surprising, since Malick often shoots way more footage than he actually uses -- the director is rumored to be working on a cut of Tree of Life that clocks in at six hours.

Off the Coast of Maine has tons of these stills, but we'll post a few selections here. They include shots from the trailer...

...from the Russian website kinopoisk.ru...

...and from various promotional materials and behind-the-scenes shots.

You can also check out The Playlist for some storyboards and concept art from unfilmed scenes in The Tree of Life. They originated in a blog post by storyboard artist Mark Bristol, who has since removed them, so we've chosen not to post them here.

Our very own Katey Rich put Terrence Malick’s contemplative, expansive The Tree of Life atop her year-end Top 10 list … then took an unfair beating in the comments section under the piece for supposedly celebrating “hipster” cinematic fare. Perhaps those who railed against Malick’s gorgeous tone poem would prefer the meditative director to churn out simplistic sop such as this? (Via Press Play):

As the site says, this is a glimpse at what could have been – Kevin James, Optimus Prime and the cast of The Hangover: Part II in a Malick film. Imagine the horror. The hilarious, hilarious horror. The sight of Brad Pitt voicing the lion and the ape from Zookeeper squeezed the biggest laughs out of me.

Then again, it is a little unnerving how the Tree of Life score properly accompanies Michael Bay’s devastating combat scenes from Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Could it be that only a sliver of creative discipline separates Malick from Bay?

Probably not.

Seeing Adam Sandler mocked mercilessly in this clip for the abomination that is Jack & Jill only reminds me that it wasn’t that long ago when one Paul Thomas Anderson took a chance on the Happy Gilmore star for the admirable Punch Drunk Love. Will Sandler ever aspire to those heights again? Or are we doomed to a steady stream of Grown Up sequels for all eternity?

Apparently in the 20 year gap between releasing Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, Terrence Malick was coming up with movie ideas that he now feels compelled to make as quickly as possible. WIth Tree of Life still winding its way through theaters, and the companion IMAX piece Voyage of Time presumably near completion, Malick has three more films in the works. One of them, which may or may not be called The Burial, he already shot with Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and other big names in lead roles. Now THR has new information, from the American Film Market in Santa Monica, about two more of them, which he plans to shoot back to back next year.

And if anyone has a busier and more promising schedule than Terrence Malick, it's Ryan Gosling, so obviously he'll be starring in one of them, called Lawless. That project is actually the one we'd been hearing about a bit before, with Christian Bale and now Haley Bennett also confirmed for roles after some speculation; earlier this year Malick and Bale were at the Austin City Limits music festival to shoot some footage, though it's totally unclear how that will fit into Lawless. If that wasn't enough, though, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara have also been added to this cast, making this essentially a who's who of up and comers past and present.

The second project, titled Knight of Cups, will also star Bale and Blanchett along with Isabel Lucas, who had a role in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as well as the upcoming Immortals. Without any spies at the Austin City Limits festival to rely on, we know even less about Knight of Cups-- which is to say, we know nothing.

It's fairly astonishing to see this complete turn-around in Malick's work ethic, the man known for his painstaking process and slow production schedule suddenly moving as if he's a studio rushing out a sequel. We've yet to see any of the movies made this quickly-- Tree of Life took nearly a decade to complete-- but when we do, we may be looking at an entirely different Malick. If you're a fan of the director, are you excited to see what this change might bring, or worried this can't mean anything good?

It's strange enough to live in a world in which Terrence Malick is constantly developing a new project-- the famously slow-paced filmmaker once spent 20 years between feature film releases doing god-knows-what-- but even stranger to see casting rumors about his next project in the trades. With Jessica Chastain in seemingly every movie released this summer, and all thanks to Malick casting her in Tree of Life years ago, people are apparently wondering which other unknown actress Malick will pluck from obscurity in his next film. If this is a question that burns you up at night, we may now have an answer.

According to Variety, Haley Bennett may be Malick's top pick for his next project, which is set for a summer shoot next year and reportedly is an intimate two-person story that may also star Christian Bale. Bennett's name showed up on a shortlist of actresses back when Bale's name first surfaced, alongside much better known actresses like Rooney Mara and Mia Wasikowska; her competition also included 127 Hours's Clemence Poesy, whom Variety says is also still in the running.

Either Bennett or Poesy would definitely qualify as "plucked out of nowhere" the way Chastain was; the Tree of Life actress had just the lead role in the indie Jolene to her name before Malick cast her in his epic film. Poesy's face is well known to fans around the world as Fleur Delacour in the Harry Potter films, but that definitely has made her a star; Bennett, on the other hand, has had small roles in big movies like Marley & Me and Music and Lyrics, but was most memorable in Gregg Araki's festival favorite Kaboom. Who knows what Malick would be able to bring out of either actress-- he's got a knack for pulling out performances you never saw coming-- but with the example of Chastain to follow, you can bet both Bennett and Poesy are eager to get the part.

Terrence Malick has been so busy lately he seems to be officially making up for all that time he spent not making movies at all. After waiting 20 dormant years between his second film, Days of Heaven, and his third, The Thin Red Line, Malick has released two films in the last 7 years, including this year's Palme d'Or winner and arthouse summer hit Tree of Life. He's already got another movie in post-production, starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel Weisz and Tree of Life's Jessica Chastain. And now Twitch reports that he's lining up another project, this one to reteam him with his The New World star Christian Bale and shoot as soon as early next year.

But though Tree of Life millennia in telling the story of a single family, and the upcoming next movie boasts a large cast and a rumored complicated story about small-town drama, the Bale movie would apparently be a lot more limited. Twitch says it's more of a two-person story, and he's currently in the process of finding the right leading lady to star opposite Bale-- the options, all significantly younger than Bale, include Rooney Mara, Haley Bennet, Clemence Poesy and Mia Wasikowska. All of those actresses are perfectly talented and could likely handle themselves opposite Bale, but with no idea what the story entails, we can't really judge much further from this distance.

I'm not sure what's gotten into Malick, but whether it's a super-soldier serum or a sudden flood of great ideas, it's amazing to see such a unique, impossible to pin down filmmaker working at this sped-up rate. Of course, we haven't yet seen one of the films that he's made on this relatively condensed schedule-- Tree of Life was labored over for years and meticulously edited in his usual style. Will the new one, the Affleck one, suffer for having been made at such an atypically fast pace? Provided it sticks to its planned release date of next year, presumably we'll know soon enough.

While we’re nowhere near ready to slap the "prolific" tag on director Terrence Malick, there are rumors that the Tree of Life filmmaker is readying his sixth feature film for release and may even be prepping his production team for yet another movie, which could be shot in the summer and fall.

Let’s back up a tad. Malick’s latest film, The Tree of Life opened in limited release over the weekend and performed well. Early estimates have the Brad Pitt-Sean Penn drama earning more than $350,000 over a three-day span in four theaters. It will expand to more markets in the coming weeks.

And we already know that Malick’s busy finishing yet another drama starring Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem and Rachel McAdams, which at one point was called Burial but currently has no name. Like all of Malick’s films, the details of this one are being kept secret … including its release date.

So why are we getting excited? Because a report in the L.A. Times suggests that Malick has told his loyal production team to keep their summer and fall schedules clear to shoot another potential film, and as the paper points out that “means he expects to be finished with this one in a matter of months.” Now, Malick rarely wraps that quickly, or for that matter launches production on another film. Maybe he wants to do shoots on the documentary film that’s expected to accompany Tree of Life in theaters soon. With Malick, you never can tell, but the safe bet is on a long post-production process, and a delay on the release of the Affleck-Malick collaboration, at least for the time being.

The first trailer for Terrence Malick's new film Tree of Life has finally gone online at Apple.com, and you can also watch it embedded in the trailer below (though, as with most things Malick, it really looks best in HD). There's no sign of the dinosaurs rumored to be included in the film, but we do get a good sense of what looks like a story about two generations of a family-- a father raising his children stiffly and harshly in the 1950s or so (Brad Pitt) and the son, now grown (Sean Penn) coping with the legacy of his parents.

It looks beautiful, of course, though with all the cosmic imagery interspersed with glimpses of the typical American childhood, it's a little hard to tell where this might go in the end. And yet, did I mention how gorgeous it is? The Americana iconography looks as stunning as anything Malick has previously made-- even though it looks like there's an unhappy childhood lurking beneath the dusk light and well-worn T-shirts, it's still a place I want to live in. The film also stars Jessica Chastain as the mother-- you haven't heard of her much yet, but she's snagging roles right and left, including one just yesterday in John Hillcoat's The Wettest County in the World-- it's worth seeing the trailer if nothing but for getting a look at someone who's apparently going to be a big star.

Check out the trailer below, and look for more on Tree of Life very, very soon-- it's expected to premiere at Sundance next month.

To coincide with the release of the trailer, Apple has also released the first poster for the film, which takes advantage of what is easily the most beautiful shot in the trailer - Brad Pitt holding the baby's foot. Check it out below.

As if it weren't enough that she's earning rave festival for Black Swan and has been offered the lead role in Gravity as a result, Natalie Portman somehow has even more good news coming down the pike. In the same THR story that broke the Gravity news, they mention that one other than Terrence Malick has been in touch with been in touch with Portman after seeing Black Swan, and he wants her to star in a Jerry Lee Lewis film, of all things.

The Reporter calls the movie a "Jerry Lee Lewis-related project," so it's unclear if it's a biopic or something stranger, and also mentions that Malick wants Brad Pitt for the film as well. Malick's next film Tree of Life is still hovering somewhere between completion and a release date, with some speculating it could hit theaters before the end of the year, and recent rumors had it that Ben Affleck and Rachel Weisz would be shooting his next film soon in Oklahoma. Malick is notorious for taking his sweet time between projects-- he waited 20 years between Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line-- so who knows why he's all of a sudden lining up one project after another, like he's Steven Soderbergh or something.

The still-living Jerry Lee Lewis is a fascinating topic for a film, of course, but already got his own biopic with 1989's Great Balls of Fire! I wouldn't expect Malick to go the traditional biopic route, but I really do wonder what he could be up to, and how he wants Pitt and Portman to fit in. Of course, it could be 10 years before we learn anything else about the project, so don't drive yourself too crazy waiting for answers.

Tate Taylor clearly has a thing for redheads. The actor-turned-director is next adapting The Help, the novel by his childhood friend Kathryn Stockett, and he's already cast Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard in key roles in the film, about rich white women and the black women who serve them in 1960s Mississippi. With shooting set to begin this summer Taylor is rounding out his cast with yet another redhead-- THR reports that Jessica Chastain has been cast as Celia Foote.

I've been following the casting process of The Help with some interest, both because I liked the book and, as a Southerner, I get very protective when Yankee actors try to step in and do Southern accents. I'm still skeptical about Stone and Howard in their lead roles, though the casting of the black characters has been spot-on so far, with Viola Davis and Taylor's friend Octavia Spencer signing on in the main roles. Chastain is definitely a wild card-- her main acting credit so far is Terrence Malick's highly anticipated Tree of Life, in which she co-stars with Brad Pitt. Since no one has seen that film yet, we basically just have to trust that Malick plucked her out of relative obscurity for a good reason.

Though the Celia Foote role is less prominent than the others, it's pretty meaty-- she's a poor white trash girl who gets completely over her head when she marries a rich local businessman, and stays at home every day with only the maid Minny (Spencer) to help her pull herself together. The character is both comic and tragic, and would be a great opportunity for Chastain to put herself out there as Malick dithers over Tree of Life at his usual slow pace. As for the fact that the three lead white actresses all have red hair? It's bizarre, but for now we can just assume Taylor has something planned.

There's been a lot of gossip and high hopes among festival types this week about what might be on this year's Cannes lineup. Would Terrence Malick's Tree of Life finally be finished in time to debut there? Would Christopher Nolan show up with Inception? Would Steven Soderbergh have secretly completed yet another movie to show off there?

The answer to all three of those questions, as it turns out, is no, but the just-announced Cannes lineup (via THR) is pretty exciting even for those of us watching the action from these shores. Some of the major competition titles include Mike Leigh's mysterious new film Another Year, the Javier Bardem-starring Biutiful from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and Doug Liman's Fair Game, a take on the Valerie Plame case that stars Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.

The United States, as usual, isn't all that represented, with Fair Game the only American competition title, and only Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine-- which debuted at Sundance this year-- waving the stars and stripes in Un Certain Regard. Of course, that's fine-- Cannes is a deliberately international festival and shows off some of the excellent foreign films that get roundly ignored over here. But when American auteurs are on top of their game they often show up at Cannes, and it's disappointing to see so few of them on board here.

Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux said they're still holding out hope that Malick's film will be finished in time to bow there after all, and there are six or seven more titles still to be added-- which means Inception may make it after all. But otherwise the lineup is here. Head to THR for the full list, and if you're lucky enough to be headed to France to see all these, do us a favor and keep it to yourself.