942 The Tree of Life

[Cde.]

No need for the prerequisite IMDB salt bags. Looks like this is real.

Sounds like Malick is trying something quite different. I can't wait.

[Macintosh]

It appears the title is now The Tree of Life... changes to the title of the thread must now be made accordingly.

[jackford]

New interview with Jack Fisk, Malick's production designer. Suprisingly enough, he goes on to briefly discuss Tree of Life, saying that how he's never seen Malick this excited about a project in the 40 years that he's known him! Also, he claims this is one of Malick's most inventive projects. Also, he says that it may have a 2010 release.

[Antoine Doinel]

Alexandre Desplant will be scoring the film =D>

[MyNameCriterionForum]

...the extras were dressed in period clothing that appeared to be from the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. The scenes being shot cover a timeline going as far back as King Lear [!!!] featuring a local man to play him.

Add this to the "hopeful, but not bloody likely" rumor pile regarding Tree of Life's release date:

“The Tree of Life” won’t be released until late 2009 but will reportedly play at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Upcoming Projects For 2009 Oscar Winners

[Cde.]

Not bloody likely.

Judging by the scale of this project, Malick probably won't be finished editing until at least July.

[knives]

Are people really trying to guess the oscars this early? Didn't they learn from Body of Lies, Slumdog Millionaire, and a whole bunch of others released last year?

[Cde.]

It's ridiculous an a bit pathetic, isn't it?

Most people who think this is going to be a real Oscar contender probably haven't seen both of Malick's last two films. But who knows, maybe there'll be acting nominations this time around.

[Fierias]

Thin Red Line was nominated for Best Picture, Director, Editing, Score, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, and Sound

[knives]

No one doubts the possibility or history, just that Malick is not the most known director by pop circumstance. After all isn't this only his fifth film in about four decades?

[Matt]

Are people really trying to guess the oscars this early?

Actually, no. The article is just talking about what projects are coming out next for people who won or were nominated for Oscars this year. I don't know what you guys are going on about.

No one doubts the possibility or history, just that Malick is not the most known director by pop circumstance.

As opposed to Danny Boyle, perhaps?

[Cde.]

Are people really trying to guess the oscars this early?

Actually, no. The article is just talking about what projects are coming out next for people who won or were nominated for Oscars this year. I don't know what you guys are going on about.

People are trying to guess the Oscars right now, though. Speculation abounds already.

No one doubts the possibility or history, just that Malick is not the most known director by pop circumstance.

As opposed to Danny Boyle, perhaps?

Pretty much. Did you see the EW top 25 active directors list? Let alone the extended version that reached up to 50.

I think The Thin Red Line received a slew of nominations because it was the much anticipated and hyped return of Malick after a 20 year absence and every man in Hollywood was in it. At the end of the day, art films that prioritise visual poetry over narrative simply aren't what the academy wants to celebrate. The New World was just as great a technical and artistic achievement as The Thin Red Line if not more so and was not more difficult or challenging than that film, yet when it rolled around seven years later it failed to be nominated for anything but cinematography, which it didn't win.

[Fierias]

Excerpt from an interview with visual effects artist Mike Flint in the latest issue of Empire Magazine:

“We’re just starting work on a project for Terrence Malick, animating dinosaurs, the film is Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. It’ll be showing in IMAX – so the dinosaurs will actually be life size – and the shots of the creatures will be long and lingering.”

so this pretty much settles any speculation on this being his Q project, yes?

[Antoine Doinel]

So is it safe to assume parts of this were filmed using the IMAX camera? Also, the prospect of animated dinosaurs doesn't exactly thrill me.

[Kirkinson]

In Malick's defense, real-life dinosaurs are very difficult to get. Seriously, though, the idea of dinosaurs being treated as once-living creatures of nature in a Malick film rather than monstrous caricatures in a King Kong remake does thrill me.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Every time I read about the "time passage" segment of Tree of Life (or Q) I can't help but imagine the beginning of Adaptation

[chaddoli]

Every time I read about the "time passage" segment of Tree of Life (or Q) I can't help but imagine the beginning of Adaptation

Yeah but imagine that stretched out to 40 minutes, on IMAX, and by Terrence Malick.

[Cde.]

Sounds magnificent.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

I still can't get over the fact that most of the more outrageous (sounding) rumors about this film are turning out to be true: the "time-travel" stuff, IMAX and digital experimentation, etc. While I don't think this will be an unrecognizable Malick project, it does seem to be his most adventurous. God, I cannot wait. I don't care if it's a completely unhinged failure, it sounds incredible. Maybe this time around the reviewers will have to say it's like "Tony Scott on LSD" hahaha

Wait a minute -- is this interview with Mike Flint online? Can anyone else with the actual magazine verify this is true? What FX company does he work for?

[knives]

So, by the sounds of it this will be Malick does Rites of Spring, or am I completely off base?

[Kirkinson]

Wait a minute -- is this interview with Mike Flint online? Can anyone else with the actual magazine verify this is true? What FX company does he work for?

A Google search for "mike flint" and "empire magazine" leads only to this thread and there's no Mike Flint at IMDb.

UPDATE: And the page that Fierias linked to back in July doesn't actually contain the sentence he "quoted" in his post. (Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean the sentence wasn't there in July, but....)

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Yes, exactly, I did the same thing (google, IMDB, etc.)

*sigh*

[Cde.]

Hold the phone! The page Fierias linked to in July did indeed contain the quoted sentence at the time. I remember visiting the page myself, and I couldn't believe my eyes. I wouldn't write him off as a bullshitter just yet.

This 'Mike Flint' business is still a little suspicious though.

UPDATE: If you need evidence that Fieras didn't make all of the initial IMAX stuff up, go here (quickly, before Malick's people pull it down) and do a search for 'Malick'.

EDIT: What a surprise, the site linked to above has had references to The Voyage of Time removed and now reads quite awkwardly.

[Fierias]

I'm real. I got this info about Mike Flint from The Auteurs Forum. If it's wrong, blame them and my lack of verifying it.

Edit: After going back to the thread where I got the information from, I still think the news it most likely legitimate. The guy that posted it seems trustworthy to me. Mike Flint just might not be a big shot and maybe the Empire article hasn't hit the web yet.

[Jeff]

I think that the person who posted that at The Auteurs Forum may have picked it up from this thread at Rotten Tomatoes. That seems to be the first place that the quote surfaced. In that thread, the visual effects artist is named Mike Fint. I believe that "Fint" may have actually been Mike Fink, who is a very well-known visual effects supervisor and second-unit director. He recently won an Academy Award for his visual effects work on The Golden Compass. His company is London-based Cinesite, which worked with Malick on The Thin Red Line. Fink is not yet credited for any work on The Tree of Life at IMDb yet, but that doesn't really mean anything.