It looks like no major film festivals are getting the trio of Terrence Malick, Brad Pitt and Sean Penn to appear on their red carpet this year. Following the initial Venice and TIFF lineup announcements made last week, and given the absence of Terrence Malick’s highly anticipated “The Tree Of Life” from either festival’s schedule, it’s not surprising to learn that the wait for the film will continue.
TIFF co-director Cameron Bailey spoke to the Toronto Star and revealed that though the festival tried very hard to secure the film, “none of us really expects that to happen at this point.” Bailey continues, “It would be a lovely surprise, but we’re not holding our breath. We know he’s definitely still working on the film, and he’s tired of being pushed by people. We’ve backed off and Venice has backed off.”Even though arthouse fans saw glimmers of hope when the film officially received a PG-13 rating from the MPAA in early July and Malick appeared with Brad Pitt in Los Angeles where he was rumored to be finishing FX and cutting a trailer, as far back as mid-June reports surfaced that “The Tree Of Life” was unlikely to make Venice. And with TIFF overlapping Venice by two days, it’s a no-brainer that if it’s not ready for Venice it won’t appear in Toronto. As you might recall, earlier in the year, the film was heavily rumored to appear at Cannes, but of course, it didn’t make the Croisette.
All this said, the newly-restructured Apparition is planning on releasing the film by the end of the year and if we had to guess, we’d say “The Tree Of Life” will skip the festival circuit altogether and just go directly to theaters when it’s ready. And expect Malick to continue tinkering right up until the last minute. For his last film, “The New World,” he made some significant changes to the film between it playing for critics for awards seasons contention and hitting theaters in a wider release.
So despite reports back in April that the film was 97% done the wait continues for “The Tree Of Life.” Malick is, as always, marching to the beat of his own drum. If you can’t wait for the film, and want to get an idea of what’s in store, check out our rundown of the script here.
