Terrence Malick is having a busy week, which for the director who formerly took ages between films, must rank among his busiest. Malick has first been working on a documentary called Voyage of Time that will incorporate footage from The Tree of Life and be “a celebration of the universe, displaying the whole of time, from its start to its final collapse,” according to a press release via HitFix. One version of the film will be just 40 minutes long, will feature narration by Brad Pitt, and will appear on IMAX screens. Another longer version will appear in traditional theaters and will be narrated by Cate Blanchett. Neither version has a release date just yet but are being planned for 2016.
His latest film however, Knight of Cups, is about to premiere at the Berlinale on February 8 (watch the trailer here), and the full plot revealed for the film sounds perfectly Malick-esque. The Playlist revealed the full synopsis early this week:
Rick is a slave to the Hollywood system. He is addicted to success but simultaneously despairs at the emptiness of his life. He is at home in a world of illusions but seeks real life. Like the tarot card of the title, Rick is easily bored and needs outside stimulation. But the Knight of Cups is also an artist, a romantic and an adventurer.
In Terrence Malick’s seventh film a gliding camera once again accompanies a tormented hero on his search for meaning. Once again a voiceover is laid over images which also seek their own authenticity. And once again Malick seems to put the world out of joint. His symphonic flow of images contrasts cold, functional architecture with the ageless beauty of nature. Rick’s internal monologue coalesces with the voices of the women who cross his path, women who represent different principles in life: while one lives in the real world, the other embodies beauty and sensuality. Which path will Rick choose? In the city of angels and the desert that surrounds it, will he find his own way?”
Mashable this week shared a video of a modified drone that has been made to resemble the Millennium Falcon, because give people ANYTHING, and they will find a way to relate it to either Star Wars or The Simpsons. The pilot, or at the very least the YouTube publisher, goes by the name of Olivier C. Watch it above.
Time Out New York made their list of the 100 Best Sex Scenes of All Time, with Marlon Brando’s disturbing display in Last Tango in Paris claiming the top spot, a prime example of how sex in the movies can be “raw and emotionless.” The writers have bent the rules somewhat to include such “sex scenes” as The Kiss, i.e. the first ever display of romance on film from 1896, and the tearing down of “The Walls of Jericho” from the rom-com classic It Happened One Night, a wonderfully symbolic way to suggest sex that makes for a perfect capper to the film. Here’s the Top 10. The full link includes some NSFW images.
1. “Last Tango in Paris” (Bernardo Bertolucci) – “Go Get the Butter”
2. “Don’t Look Now” (Nicolas Roeg) – Going to Dinner Crosscutting
3. “Persona” (Ingmar Bergman) – A Story of Boys on the Beach
4. “Brokeback Mountain” (Ang Lee) – First Time
5. “Blue is the Warmest Color” (Abdellatif Kechiche) – First Sex Scene
6. “The Kiss” (William Heise) – Cinema’s First Kiss
7. “In the Realm of the Senses” (Nagisa Oshima” – Hard Boiled Egg
8. “Basic Instinct” (Paul Verhoeven) – Leg Cross
9. “The Last Temptation of Christ” (Martin Scorsese) – Jesus and Mary Magdalene
10. “It Happened One Night” (Frank Capra) – The Wall of Jericho
Casting News was booming this week! The first big winner was Felicity Jones, who will be the female lead in an unspecified Star Wars spinoff movie (don’t ask what it’s about; it’s Star Wars, so shut up and get excited). Jones reportedly beat out both Rooney and Kate Mara for the unspecified role. Keanu Reeves and Christina Hendricks have now joined the cast of Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon, which already includes Elle Fanning. Oliver Stone has been prepping a movie about Edward Snowden, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead role and Shailene Woodley as his girlfriend. Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, and Tom Wilkinson are now all in negotiations to play Laura Poitros, Glenn Greenwald, and Ewen MacAskill, respectively. And Benedict Cumberbatch has dropped out of James Gray’s latest film, The Lost City of Z, with Charlie Hunnam set to replace him.
Also making news:
- The Steve Jobs movie directed by Danny Boyle, starring Michael Fassbender and that is supposedly actually coming out, has now been set for an October 9, 2015 release.
- Collider has the first image from Elvis and Nixon, starring Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey.
- Following the unusual airdate of late August for last year’s broadcast, the Emmys have been moved back to September 20 for 2015’s ceremony.
- /Film has an updated list of movies sold at the now wrapping Sundance Film Festival.
- Richard Bonehill, the actor who portrayed the Millennium Falcon co-pilot Nien Nunb in Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi, has died at age 67.
- The actor who portrays Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane on Game of Thrones qualified for a World’s Strongest Man competition by walking five steps with a 1,250 lb. log on his back, breaking an ancient Nordic strength record that’s reportedly 1,000 years old.