Terrence Malick

[hedwig]

been away from the board for while (for me at least) and that was the first post i read upon returning.  it made me cry.

bravo P.

[Stefen]

where were you? were you posting on another board for awhile?

[OrHowILearnedTo]

So I also post at another board for hockey discussion. My team (The Canucks) just drafted a player who will be going to Harvard. In the discussion thread for this player one poster mentioned his time at Harvard is the sixties (he's mentioned before in unrelated threads his age and judging by his posting style he definitely seems legit) and in passing he mentioned this:

My freshman roommate was accepted as a football player from Texas, but got a Rhodes, and then became a strange and cultish movie director.

I asked him who his roommate was and this was his response

Terry Malick. You can google his movies.

To be honest, he seemed such a corn-pone Southerner, with such a thick accent, that I saw the surface only, and not the unique creative mind within. I began to see the light when his philosophy prof requested to keep his straight-A term paper on "Ontology in Heidegger," saying
"I've never seen a better treatment of this subject."

A wealthy alum tried to persuade him to go out for the Freshman football team . . . the reason he was admitted. Terry (we called him "Blanket-ass" for being from Oklahoma) invited me along to the dinner at the alum's Boston mansion. It was all small talk, but in the car on the way home,
Mr. Holloway popped the question, like we knew he would. Terry simply replied, after a long pause. "Waaaaallll, Misser Holloway, ah don think ah weel." Four years later, he was off to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship.

On topic: I don't recall him liking hockey

We roomed together with one other guy (who became my roommate for the final three years) in Matthews 38, which was JFK's freshman suite it seems, judging from the tourists who occasionally knocked on our door. After freshman year, Terry went to Adams House, known then as the house for artsy, bohemian intellectuals. It's where he belonged.

I can't tell more stories here . . . this is really OT. Anyway, Terry *loves* his privacy!

So anyways, just thought this was a cool "small world" type story to share with guys about one our favourites 

[Pubrick]

That's awesome man, thanks for sharing! His story sounds legit, i especially like the part where he assumes you've never heard of the guy.

Even if you couldn't get any more stories out of him, i think the one he chose to tell is one of the most revealing about Malick's early life. It's a major pivotal moment that obviously had great effect on his future. In fact, without even meaning to, this 60yr old hockey freak just shed some light one of the key transitions that have defined Malick's life to this point. While his real motivations remain unknown, the simple story and circumstances provide us with enough details to pretty much understand that he chose to become an academic simply because it was in his nature.

Putting on hold for a moment the relevance that "one's own nature" has to malick's entire film catalogue, it's a good time to review the other key transitions in Malick's life that have yet to be explained. The first has been answered:

1. college jock to genius
2. genius scholar to journalist
3. journalist to filmmaker
4. filmmaker to nomad
5. nomad to filmmaker

If i were his biographer i would follow that structure, with some minor transitions along the way. Clearly following up a person's college roommate always yields interesting results, the rest of the story would begin with his days in "Adams House" where he talks to some bohemian freak chick about philosophy while she places her foot on his heart.

[Bethie]

awesome. 

i love gossip.

[Fernando]

Is Ben Affleck Going To Star In Terrence Malick's Next Film?

Terrence Malick isn't even finished the film he's working on now, but talk of his next project is already buzzing.

Way back in February it was reported that the director was going to shoot a film this fall, right after "The Tree Of Life" was in the can. As usual, details on the film were non-existent but it was said that Christian Bale (who had a role in Malick's 2005 film, "The New World") , Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams, and Olga Kurylenko were all on board for the untitled romantic drama. Well, with "The Tree Of Life" now in the midst of Malick's typically long post-production and editing process, the director's next film is looking less and less likely to shoot this fall.

But don't let that stop the rumors from flying. Tulsa World (via AICN) is reporting that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were recently spotted in Malick's hometown of Bartlesville, with Affleck apparently telling an employee of Broken Arrow’s Bass Pro Shop that he was buying fishing equipment because he was filming a movie in town where he would be playing a fisherman. One rumor said that Affleck was also given a tour of the Hughes Ranch which McAdams was shown back in 2009, but owner John Hughes denies that claim saying, “I sure haven’t seen any stars, but I sure have had the calls. This gal called, and she said, ‘Sir, I’m a single mom, and I need work as an extra on that movie they’re making out there.’ I had to disappoint her.”

Local officials say that other than the currently shooting “Bringing Up Bobby,” a Famke Janssen-directed drama starring Milla Jovovich and Bill Pullman, there are no plans as far as they know for a film to be shot in the region (or even the state) with Jill Simpson, the head of Oklahoma’s Film & Music Office adding, “After ['Bringing Up Bobby'], we won’t have anything filming in the state. Hopefully we will have one start in the fall.”

So what does this all mean? Well, all we know for sure is that Affleck and Garner were in Bartelsville, and no offense to the city's residents, we doubt it was just to hang out and view the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Price Tower. But file it under rumor and speculation for now, but the pairing of Affleck and Malick is certainly an intriguing proposition.

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/08/is-ben-affleck-going-to-star-in.html

[modage]

Update: According to The Wrap, Ben Affleck has indeed joined Terrence Malick's film replacing Christian Bale. Rachel Weisz has also joined the cast. Filming starts in October.

In other news, our brains just exploded. More to come....

[Pubrick]

It doesn't really matter cos you never really know who's in a Malick film until he's done cutting the shit out of the footage.

I think how Malick works is he gets in the cutting room and goes about removing each actor from the film one by one until he's left with a nice shot of parrots, a view of the sun through the tree tops, and maybe a couple of dinosaurs here and there. Then he goes about using all the dialogue recorded by the actors to make a poem to match the images he's assembled.

I guess what I'm saying is, after a year of post, all that will be left of Ben Affleck will be one line like "my daddy used to take me fishing" played over epic footage of two humpback whales duking it out.

[squints]

I have an old friend who works in the nicest restaurant in Bartlesville, OK (there are really only like four restaurants in bartlesville) and about two weeks ago he served Terrence Malick and Ben Affleck. Didn't think much of it at the time cause i knew malick was from roun these parts but...oh well

[Stefen]

Affleck is going to have the most surprising resurgence of any hollywood player ever. I predict best director nod for The Town and then best actor nod for railroad movie he's doing with Malick.

EDIT: FUCK YOU NEW PAGE.

[Gold Trumpet]

Good Will Hunting is one of my favorite movies. After the movie was released, it seems both actors based their careers on what was fitting for the perception of their characters in that film, but I am glad things are evening out since both are responsible for that wonderful movie.

[Pubrick]

EDIT: FUCK YOU NEW PAGE.

i feel for you but at least being at the top of a page guarrantees you will be read for some time to come.

some of my best work was on the previous page and now it's lost forever. the only person who responded being a freak who spends too much time GETTING HIGH to even post here anymore.

i don't think i'll bother next time.

[Stefen]

Yeah, but your work is good. Mine isn't. Every time I'm the first post on a new page it just means my dumbass post is going to be read a bunch of times.

Look, now I'm the guy who predicted that not only would Ben Affleck be the best director of the 10's, but he'd be the best actor, too.

[polkablues]

Yeah, and considering this thread moves at a rate of about six months per page, you're going to be beholden to that prediction for a while.

[Stefen]

I know. FMP.