The Telluride Film Festival is barely a few hours old, with things to kick off with the sneak screening of "Argo" later today, but already there is some curious buzz emanating the crisp, clear mountain air. And it’s about a movie that’s not playing the fest, though who knows if it will be one of the TBA slots on the schedule. It concerns Terrence Malick‘s "To The Wonder," which as of late has been earning press mostly due to folks like Rachel Weisz, Barry Pepper, Amanda Peet and Michael Sheen getting their scenes snipped out. But one of the biggest names attached also may have had his role severely reduced.
The usually plugged in and on the prowl Jeff Wells tweeted today: Affleck didn’t say this, but I’m told he’s barely in "To The Wonder" a la Adrien Brody in "Thin Red Line" and Sean Penn in "Tree of Life" Huh? From what we know of the logline of the film, it centers on a man who goes to Europe, falls in love with a woman (Olga Kurylenko), brings her back to America where they marry, only for him to rekindle a romance with a childhood sweetheart (Rachel McAdams). You would think you might need Affleck in the movie to make this work.
But, as always, one of the big rumors around the movie is how "experimental" it is in nature (with rumblings that it has very minimal dialogue), so could Malick be telling this story but instead doing so from the perspective of the women and not Affleck? We’ll find out very soon, and we’ll add this little nugget: in Toronto it’s Kurylenko and McAdams who are doing press for the film, not Affleck. Hmm….
At any rate, Affleck offered up a helluva tease about the movie while speaking at the Telluride Picnic. According to Jeff Wells he said: Terrence Malick’s "To The Wonder," in which he stars, "makes ‘Tree of Life’ look like ‘Transformers.’"
Anyway, all interesting stuff to contemplate and debate, but we’ll have our answer on Sunday when "To The Wonder" screens for press in Venice.
