The rate at which Terrence Malick has been generating new material –he’s been filming two films concurrently, with another about to premiere at Venice– is rather out of character for the legendarily glacial director, but sounds like he’s hasn’t entirely shed his old habits. Word from Rachel Weisz out of an Italian paper is that she’s been “Brodied” and is now excised entirely from To The Wonder, the first of Malick’s new films.
“I had the experience of working with him [Malick] but I will not have the pleasure of seeing my work.”
Hey sister, at least you were forewarned. Lest we forget, Malick has big brass (likely bearded) balls and has never had qualms cutting stars of all levels of repute out of his films, or drastically reducing their parts- and not always with any warning. The Thin Red Line is infamous for starting out as an Adrien Brody movie, only to debut with Brody as a minimal side character and Jim Caviezel now the lead. While it was only Mickey Rourke, Bill Pulman, and Luke Haas that were cut entirely from the film (routinely cited “cut” actors like Gary Oldman, Martin Sheen and Viggo Mortenson never actually made it in front of cameras), there was ole Billy Bob Thornton who recorded a three hour voice over for nothing, and John C. Reilly also saw a substantial part *poof* into a walk-on.
The New World is no different, with even Christopher Plummer holding a mean grudge for Malick’s editing habits. One would think the increased pace of production on this flurry of new material might slow Terry’s tendency towards surprise edits. Nope!
Remember, there’s also Javier Bardem, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Jessica Chastain, Barry Pepper, Michael Sheen, Amanda Peet, and Olga Kurylenko that could get the To The Wonder knife as well.
Oh- and an update on Knight Of Cups!
Apparently he was on set earlier in the summer, but either The Wrap and I are just now noticing or the pictures just now surfaced showing Shea Wigham (Boardwalk Empire, Take Shelter) bopping about on set with Christian Bale. I like Wigham- he’s great at being sad. I wonder if he’ll be another sad sack in this film which, don’t forget, may involve some of the most debauched, crazy scenes ever included in a Malick film…
Source | The Wrap