While it was reported over the weekend that Terrence Malick will reunite with Christian Bale (The New World) for a film tentatively slated for a 2013 release, another film with Sean Penn (The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life) seems unlikely after some new comments from the actor.
Penn seems frustrated and underwhelmed by what he ultimately saw in The Tree of Life, offering this quote to French newspaper Le Figaro (via The New Yorker):
I didn’t at all find on the screen the emotion of the script, which is the most magnificent one that I’ve ever read. A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact. Frankly, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing there and what I was supposed to add in that context. What’s more, Terry himself never managed to explain it to me clearly.
While Penn’s name was heavily promoted on posters and trailers as one of the film’s “stars,” his total screen time makes up about ten minutes of the film’s two and a half hour runtime. That said, his character is vital to the film’s emotional impact and one whose fate I have discussed at length and still think about on a regular basis.
Penn adds, “It’s up to each to find a personal emotional or spiritual connection.” Personally, that’s one of the things I love about the movie. You can discuss the movie with four different people and hear four different takes on what they took away from the film and the powerful ending that features Penn’s character front and center.
By all accounts, Terrence Malick is a unique individual. Yet I can’t imagine his directorial style has drastically changed since The Thin Red Line (1998) that Penn didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Has Penn has become so accustomed to his grandiose roles that demand the attention of Oscar voters that these sour grapes are just a case of a movie star thinking his role should have been bigger?
After all, co-star Jessica Chastain found Malick agreeable enough to return for his next movie.
