Hollywood's phantom and genius - Terrence Malick turns 80
He avoids the red carpet, gives no interviews and no press conferences. Legends surround the phantom and genius who lives far away from Hollywood in the US state of Texas. Publicity-shy US director Terrence Malick ("The Tree of Life", "The Thin Line"), who turns 80 on Thursday (November 30), prefers to let his films do the talking.
Not surprisingly, Malick was also absent in 2019 when his last feature film to date was celebrated with standing ovations lasting several minutes after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. With "A Hidden Life", Malick filmed a drama about the resistance during the Second World War, based on true events. In grandiose images and in a very poetic way, he tells the story of the Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter, who did not want to fight for the National Socialists and was finally executed for it in 1943.
"A very curious and very funny person"
The German lead actor August Diehl raved about working with Malick in Cannes. He is a "very open, very modest, very curious and very funny person", said Diehl in an interview with dpa. "He asks a lot about personal life and what you think about things. You talk a lot about philosophical questions or how you see the world".
They quickly dispensed with a script. "The takes take a very, very long time, in them he searches for THE moment. The search for the moment is very important to him. There was very little dialog in the film, it was all about working on moods," says Diehl.
Malick, who lives in Texas with his third wife, has a film-worthy career. For a time, he worked as a farm hand before studying philosophy at the elite universities of Harvard and Oxford. He later worked as a journalist in New York before enrolling as a film student in Los Angeles in 1969.
In 1973, he made his directorial debut with "Badlands". The newcomer, who produced with his own company on a tight budget, was able to win Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek for the roles of a murderous couple in rural America.
He cemented his reputation as a genius five years later with the jealousy drama "Days of Heaven", which he shot largely without artificial lighting. The film about the love triangle between Bill, Abby and a farmer in 1916 Texas featured a prominent cast including Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepard and was awarded the Directing Prize at Cannes in 1979.
Long withdrawal
Despite his success, Malick withdrew from the film business and lived in France for a time. It was not until 20 years later that he returned with the anti-war film "The Thin Red Line". Stars such as Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson and George Clooney wanted to shoot with Malick. They play US soldiers fighting against the Japanese on a Pacific island in the 1940s, invading an untouched natural paradise. The drama won the Golden Bear at the 1999 Berlinale.
In 2006, Malick brought Colin Farrell in front of the camera for the historical drama "The New World" as a British explorer who falls in love with the chief's daughter Pocahontas in the US wilderness.
Palme d'Or for "The Tree of Life"
It would have been a miracle if Malick had received the Palme d'Or himself for "The Tree of Life" at the Cannes Festival in 2011. Instead, producer Bill Pohlad took to the stage. "Tonight I have to take the place of a giant," he said. Malick is "very shy and secretive". "He doesn't want to be a celebrity."
The philosophical and spiritual work "The Tree of Life" is rather difficult to access, but visually stunning cinema. Malick combines a family drama with Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn with impressive shots of the creation of the earth and human existence. "It raises big questions," Pitt described the film in the San Francisco Chronicle.
For Malick, it was also a leap back to his own youth. He grew up in Texas, a strict father, the early death of a brother. These are some of the few known fragments of the director's life.
After "Tree of Life" (2011), Malick fans didn't have to wait long. "To the Wonder" (2013), with Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem, is a romantic drama with dream sequences. In 'Knight of Cups' (2015), he sent Christian Bale on a search for meaning through Hollywood in the role of a successful author with Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett. The shoot must have been just as mysterious as the movie. "Terry didn't tell me what the movie was about," said Bale at the Berlinale. He also never knew what he had to do on any given day.
For 'Song to Song' (2017), Malick brought stars such as Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett in front of the camera. Their characters drift through the Texan music city of Austin.
Immediately after "A Hidden Life" (2019), Malick shot his tenth feature film, the biblical drama "The Way of the Wind", in several countries, with Mark Rylance as the devil and Géza Röhrig as Jesus. The film is still being edited, producer Alex Boden told the industry magazine "Variety" in August. Malick is "very happy" with the material, but there is no announcement yet.
Terrence Malick's film "The Tree of Life" was celebrated at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn among the stars. On his birthday, which falls on November 30, fans might look forward to seeing Malick's latest film, "The Way of the Wind," featuring Mark Rylance as the devil and Géza Röhrig as Jesus.
Source: www.dpa.com
