After a video popped up of Terrence Malick‘s shooting Christian Bale on the set of his secret new project, it become clear that the director accustomed to a sparse output was ramping up in a big way. We saw his Tree of Life finally hit theaters this year, then there is his accompanying documentary Voyage of Time in the works, and aside from this new Bale project, he had already wrapped his romantic drama and is deep into post-production.
Going by the rumored title of The Burial, the film already stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel Weisz, Barry Pepper, Charles Baker and Jessica Chastain. But with shooting wrapped quite some time ago, new names are surfacing. For some reason this slipped past the cracks, but during his Midnight in Paris press tour Michael Sheen confirmed clear as day that he recently worked with Terrence Malick on a film. With only The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and Part 2 on the horizon for the actor, it is nice to see him take part in this film.
While doing some more digging, I also uncovered that Amanda Peet has confirmed her role in the film, speaking with L.A. Story about the experience. The actress recently delivered a great performance in Nicole Holofcener‘s Please Give and although she has mostly stayed under the radar the last few years, it will be a treat to see her work with Malick. Read what she had to say below.
I wasn’t there for very long, and we worked really long hours, so I didn’t really get a huge taste of it, but it was really beautiful [Malick] couldn’t have been lovelier. He has a very, very particular way of shooting. He calls things out to you while you’re shooting, and it’s very, very different than other work that I’ve done…You just go to work, and they do a master shot and then a medium and then a close-up and then a close-up, and he’s nothing like that. He’s like a jazz musician. There’s a lot of variety, and he doesn’t do the same thing twice. He improvises and he lets you riff, and then he’ll shout something out to you that he wants you to say in the middle of the scene. It’s a very mysterious and wonderful, magical process.
Like most actors that a part of the production, we have no clue as to what these role entail. I’ve also heard rumblings of Michael Shannon being part of the project, but there is no confirmation on that yet. Either way, it looks like Malick gathered up quite the ensemble for the film that is said to be more experimental than The Tree of Life.
The director has also rounded up a composer, as All Things Shining (via The Playlist) reports that American Indian classical composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate has come aboard to score the film. This would mark the first major film production for the artist and the site reports Malick went on a search for Oklahoma musicians in order to take advantage of a 2% tax rebate for using music from the state of production. They’ve reportedely settled on Tate and you can learn more about him on his official website or with a documentary below that concerns his work with the San Francisco Symphony
The Burial was picked up by Optimum for a 2012 UK release and Malick recently said he was rushing towards a final mix on the film. I’d expect it in US theaters by late next year.
What do you think about the casting and composing news for Malick’s next project?