One of this year’s more tantalizing pieces of news has finally received a follow-up. We first reported in June that Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life would be getting expanded to an astounding six hours through reinstated footage, the majority of which “would mostly focus on the middle portion of the film where we follow Jack (Hunter McCracken) as he grows up in 1950s Texas under the guidance of Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain’s characters.” When you hear that your favorite film of the year is going to be inflated by about three and a half hours, you want to hear more. And we didn’t.
Until now, at least. AllThingsShining (via ThePlaylist) spoke to Billy Weber, one of five editors credited on The Tree of Life, and he told them that Malick is indeed “doing a longer cut of ‘Tree.’” It might not be the most herculean task, either, as they “had so many scenes that were cut out that it wouldn’t be that hard to put together a longer version.” Nearly three years of editing suddenly isn’t so bad, I guess.
Listen up Brad fans – you know Brad stars in Tree of Life, but did you know you can enjoy it from the comfort of your own living rooms? Yep! From October 11, 2011 to March 25, 2012– the movie will be available on Movies on Demand, so avoid long video store rental lines and enjoy the movie on your OWN big screen at home!
TREE OF LIFE
Rating: PG-13
Now playing through Mar 25th.
The Tree Of Life. The story of a Midwestern family in the 1950′s, this film follows the eldest son as he reconciles his relationship with his father. Now available On Demand the same day as DVD. Donde sea disponible en SAP.
Running Time: 2:19
Cast: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn
Director: Terrence Malick
Genre: Drama
You can learn more about Movies on Demand and find out what’s coming up here: http://www.rentmoviesondemand.com/
Author: admin | Categories: tree of life | Comment(s): Comments Off
Hollywood stalwart Brad Pitt talks about his role in Terrence Malick’s hugely ambitious and passionate masterpiece The Tree Of Life, in an exclusive interview for The Huffington Post UK.
Pitt stars as an overbearing father in 1950s Texas, and also co-produced the film. Malick’s big-screen spiritual quest took home the Palme d’or from this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and impressed and baffled critics alike.
Below, Pitt talks about working with the elusive Malick, the process of filming one of the most talked about films of 2011, and his co-star Jessica Chastain:
How did you first encounter Terrence Malick’s work?
I found it later, as seems to be the case with most of my favourite films, in Badlands, and what a revelation it was at that time. I just hadn’t seen anything like it. It spoke to a certain endemic behaviour in America that was deep-rooted and not spoken about.
How did you get involved in The Tree Of Life?
We were developing something with him [Malick] that we’d been working on for a couple of years, and this came up, and he invited us in to help produce. Another actor was involved and he fell out, and I said, “What the hell. It’s Terry Malick. Let’s go.” And I think this particular story was quite personal to him.
Very few people get to produce movies. Even fewer get to produce films with filmmaker Terrence Malick, who has only made a handful of movies over the past forty years: Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and The New World.
His latest, the acclaimed drama (and my pick for best film of 2011 so far) The Tree Of Life, arrived on the scene this past May and has now debuted on Blu-ray Disc and DVD from Fox Home Entertainment.
I was fortunate to recently talk on the phone with one of The Tree of Life’s producers, Dede Gardner, about the film, what it meant to her and what it was like to work with Malick.
Thank you for taking the time out to talk to TheHDRoom about The Tree of Life. I just have to start off by saying that I thought this film was the best movie I have seen in years.
Thank you! That is so nice of you to say.
What was it like working with Terrence Malick?
It was a total pleasure, just a pleasure. He’s enormously intelligent, personable, generous, funny and friendly. He’s really down to earth and lovely to spend time with and obviously, insanely gifted. Being a longtime fan of his work, working with him was an added thrill. His decision to live a private life has led people to think that he can’t be a normal guy, but nothing could be further from the truth.
You’re President of Plan B Entertainment (Brad Pitt’s production company). How did you become part of the project? Did it go through Plan B first or was it that Brad Pitt first got the role as the father and Plan B came on board after that?
No, Plan B had been involved with the production of The Tree of Life before the decision had been made to have Brad star in it. Brad and I were talking to Terry and Sarah Green (also a producer on the film) about another project. In the course of that dialogue, Terry started to talk about Tree of Life. It was very obvious that this project was incredibly important to him, was something he was very committed to get made and that it would be difficult to get made. At that point, we jumped on board and told him that we would help in any way we can. Much later on, the decision was made for Brad to be in the film.
It’s not a huge surprise, but today comes word from Fox Searchlight that the entire cast of The Tree of Life — notably Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain — will be campaigned in the supporting categories this awards season. It’s a strategy that’s been used for several ensemble films in the recent past, like Babel and Slumdog Millionaire. (Babel‘s Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi ended up scoring Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress, while Slumdog‘s Dev Patel earned a SAG nod in the supporting-male race.)
For Pitt, the move heads off any potential vote splitting between his performances in Tree of Life and Moneyball, since the latter is clearly a lead role. But for Chastain, it’s muddier: The actress, who’ll end up costarring in six films released in 2011, will now be the recipient of supporting campaigns for Tree and The Help, just for starters.
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) grants its Grand Prix for Best Film of the year to TERRENCE MALICK’S THE TREE OF LIFE. The prize is the result of a vote by 205 critics across the world, all members of FIPRESCI on any feature-length film from the previous 12 months. The prize will be presented at the opening gala of San Sebastian Festival’s 59th edition on September 16th at the Kursaal Auditorium.
TERRENCE MALICK’S THE TREE OF LIFE will open the Zabaltegi-Pearls section at this year’s edition of the San Sebastian Festival, after having carried off the Golden Palm at the Cannes Festival in May this year. Starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, the film is a poetic, personal reflection on the meaning of human life.
Terrence Malick, who bagged the Golden Shell for Best Film with Badlands, thanked all members of FIPRESCI for the recognition.
Moneyball Brad Pitt is having a remarkable year. First he plays the dark side of the American Dream in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes; now he switch-hits to the sunny side in Moneyball‘s amazing-but-true story of Billy Beane, a general manager who changed the face of major league baseball. Here, after a string of quirky, character roles, Pitt finally unleashes his natural wit and charisma in a role that soaks it up—he has the lustre of a latter-day Warren Beatty or Robert Redford. A movie star hitting his prime. But what makes the film really click is the hilarious odd-couple chemistry between Pitt and the deadpan Jonah Hill, cast as the nerdy Yale economist hired by Beane to build a winning strategy by number-crunching. Directed by Capote‘s Bennett Miller, this is one helluva good sports movie. Expect Pitt get an Oscar nomination.
BEVERLY HILLS, California — Terrence Malick kicks off his new film, “The Tree of Life,” with a bang. The Big Bang, actually. Over the next 138 minutes, the viewer witnesses a journey through history that ends up in a small town in Texas. Critics seem to agree that you’ll either love it or hate it.
“Terrence Malick has vision,” Brad Pitt, who stars in the film, tells The Japan Times. “He’s not about commercial concerns, he’s about stretching filmmaking to the limit.”
It’s a vision that not everyone is seeing, but those who do are impressed. The critic Roger Ebert called the film a “form of prayer” that made him “alert to the awe of existence.” The film also won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in France.
Malick is famous for not giving interviews. He has directed six films since debuting with the short “Lanton Mills” in 1969. This lack of output has been attributed to his perfectionist approach to making movies. As Japan Times film critic Giovanni Fazio pointed out in last week’s review of “The Tree of Life,” this can be both a curse and a blessing.
However, Pitt stands by Malick’s perfectionism, “When Terrence makes a movie, he takes his time. He can’t be dictated to. He’ll wait just as long as he needs to start shooting.”
MADRID — Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” has added to its Cannes Palme d’Or win this May by taking the Grand Prix for film of the year, awarded by the Intl. Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci).
It’s comforting to discover so many generous hearts that encourage myself and all those who work with me to continue forging ahead,” Malick said in a statement.
The prize will be presented Sept. 16 at the opening gala of the 59th San Sebastian Film Festival, where “The Tree of Life” opens the fest’s Zabaltegi-Pearls section.
The prize will be collected by an exec at Tripictures, the Spanish distributor of the film, the San Sebastian fest announced Friday, scotching major speculation that pic’s stars Brad Pitt or Sean Penn will pick up the award.
Steffani was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer found in lymph tissue, in 2007 at the age of fourteen. While going through treatment, Steffani was referred to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central & South Texas. The Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. When asked what would be the one thing she would wish for if she could have anything, Steffani replied, “I wish to be an actress.”
The Make-A-Wish staff went to work to create a magical experience for Steffani. In the spring of 2008, her dream came true when she was given the opportunity to visit the set ofThe Tree of Life, a movie being filmed in Austin. Her mother, Tamara, said it couldn’t have come at a better time as she had finished her treatments just six weeks prior.
FYI. Webmiss was away for a couple days to visit Krakow, Poland. I’m home now. A big thanks to my lovely friend and SB staffmember La_miga for keeping SimplyBrad.com updated!
The film opening the section won the Golden Palm at the last Cannes Festival, THE TREE OF LIFE, a poetic, personal reflection on the meaning of human existence directed by the North American Terrence Malick, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. With only five films on his filmography, Terrence Malick (Illinois, 1943) is a real cult figure in the history of American cinema, having won the Golden Shell at San Sebastian Festival with his very first work, Badlands (1974). With Days of Heaven (1978) he went on to secure the Best Director award at Cannes Festival followed by the Golden Bear at Berlin Festival for The Thin Red Line (1999).
There are 6 more unseen clips at the website of CinemaBlend. Defenitely worth checking out, I very much recommend them. Several unseen with Brad’s character Mr. O’Brien.
