Terrence Malick

Terrence Malick
Malick filming, 2011 at Austin City Limits Music Festival
Born	Terrence Frederick Malick (1943-11-30) November 30, 1943 Ottawa, Illinois, United States
Alma mater	Harvard University Magdalen College, Oxford AFI Conservatory
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Jill Jakes (1970–1976) Michèle Morette (1985–98) Alexandra Wallace (1998–present)

Terrence Frederick Malick (/ˈmælɪk/; born November 30, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. In a career spanning over four decades he has directed eight feature films. Malick made his directorial debut with the drama Badlands (1973), about a young couple on a crime spree in the 1950s Midwest. His second film, Days of Heaven (1978), follows a farm laborer who becomes caught in a love triangle; both films are often ranked among the best of the 1970s. After the latter's release, Malick took a long hiatus from filmmaking. His third film, The Thin Red Line (1998), is set during World War II and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The New World (2005) is a romantic historical drama. The Tree of Life (2011) is an experimental drama that observes a 1950s Texas family through fragmented visual style and a nonlinear narrative. Although initial reviews were polarized, many critics and scholars now consider the film a masterpiece. Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. To the Wonder (2012) is a romantic drama art film.

Malick has received consistent praise for his work and is regarded as one of the greatest living filmmakers. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life, and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Thin Red Line, as well as winning the Golden Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival for The Thin Red Line, and the SIGNIS Award at the 69th Venice International Film Festival for To the Wonder.

Early life

Terrence Malick was born in Ottawa, Illinois. He is the son of Irene (née Thompson; 1912–2011) and Emil A. Malick (1917–2013), a geologist. His paternal grandparents were Assyrian Christian immigrants from Syria and Lebanon. Malick attended St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, while his family lived in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Malick had two younger brothers: Chris and Larry. Larry Malick was a guitarist who went to study in Spain with Andrés Segovia in the late 1960s. In 1968, Larry intentionally broke his own hands due to pressure over his musical studies. Their father Emil went to Spain to help Larry, but his son died shortly after, apparently committing suicide.

Malick received a A.B. in philosophy from Harvard College, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1965. He did graduate work at Magdalen College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. After a disagreement with his tutor, Gilbert Ryle, over his thesis on the concept of world in Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein, Malick left Oxford without a degree. In 1969, Northwestern University Press published Malick's translation of Heidegger's Vom Wesen des Grundes as The Essence of Reasons.

After returning to the United States, Malick taught philosophy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology while freelancing as a journalist. He wrote articles for Newsweek, The New Yorker, and Life.

Film career

Malick started his film career after earning an MFA from the AFI Conservatory in 1969, directing the short film Lanton Mills. At the AFI, he established contacts with people such as actor Jack Nicholson, longtime collaborator Jack Fisk, and agent Mike Medavoy, who procured for Malick freelance work revising scripts. He wrote an early uncredited draft of Dirty Harry (1971), and he is credited with the screenplay for Pocket Money (1972).

After one of his screenplays, Deadhead Miles, was made into what Paramount Pictures believed was an unreleasable film, Malick decided to direct his own scripts. His first work was Badlands (1973), an independent film starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as a young couple on a crime spree in the 1950s Midwest. It was influenced by the crimes of convicted teenaged spree killer Charles Starkweather. After a troubled production, Badlands drew raves at its premiere at the New York Film Festival, leading to Warner Bros. buying distribution rights for three times its budget.

Paramount Pictures produced Malick's second film, Days of Heaven (1978), about a love triangle that develops in the farm country of the Texas Panhandle in the early 20th century. The film spent two years in post-production, during which Malick and his crew experimented with unconventional editing and voice-over techniques. Days of Heaven went on to win the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, as well as the prize for Best Director at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival.

Those rambling philosophical voiceovers; the placid images of nature, offering quiet contrast to the evil deeds of men; the stunning cinematography, often achieved with natural light; the striking use of music – here is a filmmaker with a clear sensibility and aesthetic who makes narrative films that are neither literary nor theatrical, in the sense of foregrounding dialogue, event, or character, but are instead principally cinematic, movies that suggest narrative, emotion, and idea through image and sound.

Chris Wisniewski about Days of Heaven and The New World

Following the release of Days of Heaven, Malick began developing a project for Paramount, titled Q, that explored the origins of life on earth. During pre-production, he suddenly moved to Paris and disappeared from public view for years. During this time, he wrote a number of screenplays, including The English Speaker, about Josef Breuer's analysis of Anna O.; adaptations of Walker Percy's novel The Moviegoer and Larry McMurtry's The Desert Rose; a script about Jerry Lee Lewis; and a stage adaptation of Sansho the Bailiff, which was to be directed by Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda, in addition to continuing work on the Q script. Malick's work on Q eventually became the basis for his 2011 film, The Tree of Life. longtime production designer on Malick's films Jack Fisk says that he was shooting film during this time as well.

Twenty years after Days of Heaven, Malick returned to film directing in 1998 with The Thin Red Line, a loose adaptation of the James Jones World War II novel of the same name, for which he gathered a large ensemble of famous stars. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, won the Golden Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival, and received critical acclaim.

After learning of Malick's work on an article about Che Guevara during the 1960s, Steven Soderbergh offered Malick the chance to write and direct a film about Guevara that he had been developing with Benicio del Toro. Malick accepted and produced a screenplay focused on Guevara's failed revolution in Bolivia. After a year and a half, the financing had not come together entirely, and Malick was given the opportunity to direct The New World, a script he had begun developing in the 1970s. He left the Guevara project in March 2004. Soderbergh directed Che (2008).

The New World, which featured a romantic interpretation of the story of John Smith and Pocahontas in the Virginia Colony, was released in 2005. Over one million feet of film was shot, and three different cuts of varying length were released. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, but received generally mixed reviews during its theatrical run. It has since been hailed as one of the best films of the decade.

Malick's fifth feature, The Tree of Life, was filmed in Smithville, Texas, and elsewhere during 2008. Starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, and Sean Penn, it is a family drama spanning multiple time periods; it focuses on an individual's reconciling love, mercy and beauty with the existence of illness, suffering and death. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Palme d'Or. It also won the FIPRESCI Award for the Best Film of the Year. At the 84th Academy Awards, it was nominated for three awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director for Malick, and Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki. A limited theatrical release in the United States began on May 27, 2011.

More than any other active filmmaker Mr. Malick belongs in the visionary company of homegrown romantics like Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Hart Crane and James Agee. The definitive writings of these authors did not sit comfortably or find universal favor in their own time. They can still seem ungainly, unfinished, lacking polish and perfection. This is precisely what makes them alive and exciting: Moby-Dick, Leaves of Grass, The Bridge and A Death in the Family lean perpetually into the future, pushing their readers forward toward a new horizon of understanding.

A. O. Scott in review of The Tree of Life

Malick's sixth feature, titled To the Wonder, was shot predominately in Bartlesville, Oklahoma; a few scenes were filmed in Pawhuska, Oklahoma and at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa. The film premiered at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. It is described in the program notes as "an exploration of love in its many forms". The film stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, and Javier Bardem.

On November 1, 2011, Filmnation Entertainment announced international sales for Malick's next two projects: Lawless and Knight of Cups. Lawless would star Ryan Gosling, with a supporting cast including Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara and Haley Bennett. Knight of Cups would star Bale, and also feature Blanchett, along with Isabel Lucas. The films would be shot back-to-back in 2012. Production designer Jack Fisk has indicated a June start date.

During the weekend of September 16, 2011, Malick was photographed and caught on film while on set for one of the first times ever, while he and a small crew were following Christian Bale and Haley Bennett around the Austin City Limits Music Festival as part of preliminary shooting for Lawless. He was also seen directing Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara at the Fun Fun Fun Fest on the weekend on November 4, 2011. In early 2012, the title Lawless was given to The Weinstein Company's Lawless, leaving Malick's project untitled. It was announced in March 2015 that the film's new title was Weightless. He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other people.

Concurrent with these two features, Malick has been working on an Imax documentary, titled Voyage of Time. The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a celebration of the Earth, displaying the whole of time, from the birth of the universe to its final collapse." The film expands on the footage that special effects luminaries Douglas Trumbull (2001) and Dan Glass (The Matrix) created for The Tree of Life. Brad Pitt was signed to do the narration. Footage from the film was screened for investors at the Cannes Film Festival and world sales rights were picked up by The Wild Bunch. A 2016 release date was announced.

Personal life

Malick is famously protective of his private life. His contracts stipulate that his likeness may not be used for promotional purposes, and he routinely declines requests for interviews.

From 1970 to 1976, Malick was married to Jill Jakes. His companion afterward in the late 1970s was director and screenwriter Michie Gleason. In 1985 in France, he married Michèle Marie Morette, whom he met in Paris in 1980; in 1996, Malick asked for a divorce, which was granted. Afterward he married Alexandra "Ecky" Wallace, the best friend of his high-school sweetheart.

As of at least 2011, Malick resides in Austin, Texas.

Filmography

Year	Film	Functioned as					Notes
		Director	Producer	Writer	Composer	Actor
1969	Lanton Mills	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film. Role: Tilman
1971	Drive, He Said			Yes			Uncredited draft
	Dirty Harry			Yes			Uncredited early draft
1972	Deadhead Miles			Yes
	Pocket Money			Yes		Yes	Role: Workman (uncredited)
1973	Badlands	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Role: Caller at Rich Man's House (uncredited)
1974	The Gravy Train			Yes
1978	Days of Heaven	Yes		Yes		Yes	Awarded the Best Director Award at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival Role: Worker (uncredited)
1998	The Thin Red Line	Yes		Yes			Awarded the Golden Bear at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival
1999	Endurance		Yes
2000	Happy Times		Yes
2002	Bear's Kiss			Yes			Uncredited re-write
2004	The Beautiful Country		Yes
	Undertow		Yes
2005	The New World	Yes		Yes
2006	Amazing Grace		Yes
2011	The Tree of Life	Yes		Yes			Awarded the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Awarded the FIPRESCI Award for the Best Film of the Year
2012	To the Wonder	Yes		Yes			Awarded the SIGNIS Award at the 2012 Venice Film Festival
2014	The Better Angels		Yes
2015	Knight of Cups	Yes		Yes
	Untitled film	Yes		Yes			Shot back-to-back with Knight of Cups in 2012. Post-production
2016	Voyage of Time	Yes		Yes			Post-production

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Project	Category	Result
Academy Awards	1998	The Thin Red Line	Best Director	Nominated
			Best Adapted Screenplay	Nominated
	2011	The Tree of Life	Best Director	Nominated
Berlin International Film Festival	1999	The Thin Red Line	Golden Bear	Won
Cannes Film Festival	1978	Days of Heaven	Best Director Award	Won
			Palme d'Or	Nominated
	2011	The Tree of Life	Palme d'Or	Won
César Awards	1999	The Thin Red Line	Best Foreign Film	Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association	1998	The Thin Red Line	Best Director	Won
	2011	The Tree of Life	Best Director	Won
			Best Original Screenplay	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	1978	Days of Heaven	Best Director	Nominated

Bibliography

• Malick, Terrence. Days of Heaven, Registered with the Writers Guild of America, April 14, 1976; revised June 2, 1976.

References

• Biskind, Peter. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, London: Bloomsbury, 1998.
• Biskind, Peter. 'The Runaway Genius' at the Wayback Machine (archived January 15, 2011), Vanity Fair, 460, December 1998, 116–125.
• Cavell, Stanley. The World Viewed: Reflections on the Ontology of Film, Enlarged Edition, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.
• Chion, Michel. The Voice in Cinema, translated by Claudia Gorbman, New York & Chichester: Columbia University Press, 1999.
• Ciment, Michel. 'Entretien avec Terrence Malick', Positif, 170, June 1975, 30–34.
• Cook, G. Richardson. 'The Filming of Badlands: An Interview with Terry Malick', Filmmakers Newsletter, 7:8, June 1974, 30–32.
• Crofts, Charlotte. 'From the "Hegemony of the Eye" to the "Hierarchy of Perception": The Reconfiguration of Sound and Image in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven', Journal of Media Practice, 2:1, 2001, 19–29.
• Denson, G. Roger. 'Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" Plays Garden of Eden to the Family of Man", Huffington Post, June 6, 2011.
• Docherty, Cameron. 'Maverick Back from the Badlands', The Sunday Times, Culture, June 7, 1998, 4.
• Donougho, Martin. 'West of Eden: Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven', Postscript: Essays in Film and the Humanities, 5:1, Fall 1985, 17–30.
• Ebert, Roger. Review of Days of Heaven, Chicago Sun-Times Inc.
• Fox, Terry Curtis. 'The Last Ray of Light', Film Comment, 14:5, September/October 1978, 27–28.
• Fuller, Graham. 'Exile on Main Street', The Observer, December 13, 1998, 5.
• Hartl, John. 'Badlands Director Ending his Long Absence', Seattle Times, March 8, 1998.
• Henderson, Brian. 'Exploring Badlands'. Wide Angle: A Quarterly Journal of Film Theory, Criticism and Practice, 5:4, 1983, 38–51.
• Keyser, Les. Hollywood in the Seventies, London: Tantivy Press, 1981.
• Maher Jr., Paul (2014). One Big Soul: An Oral History of Terrence Malick. Upstart Crow Publishing. ISBN 978-1-304-59527-0.
• Monaco, James. "Badlands", Take One, 4:1, September/October 1972, 32.
• Malick interview, American Film Institute Report, 4:4, Winter 1973, 48.
• Newman, Kim. "Whatever Happened to Whatsisname?", Empire, February 1994, 88–89.
• Riley, Brooks. "Interview with Nestor Almendros", Film Comment, 14:5, September/October 1978, 28–31.
• Telotte, J. P. "Badlands and the Souvenir Drive", Western Humanities Review, 40:2, Summer 1986, 101–14.
• Walker, Beverly. "Malick on Badlands", Sight and Sound, 44:2, Spring 1975, 82–3.
• Wondra, Janet. "A Gaze Unbecoming: Schooling the Child for Femininity in Days of Heaven", Wide Angle, 16:4, October 1994, 5–22.

External links

• Terrence Malick at the Internet Movie Database
• Terrence Malick at AllMovie
• Works by or about Terrence Malick in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• The Films of Terrence Malick on YouTube, movie clip compilation, 3 min.
• Dossier about Terrence Malick, La furia umana, n°10 texts: English, Spanish, French, Italian by Joe McElhaney, Alain Bergala, Carlos Losilla, Jean-Cristophe Ferrari, Alessandro Cappabianca, and others; edited by Toni D'Angela