Director Terrence Malick: biography and creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Terrence Malick is a film director, producer and screenwriter. He is a visionary and a perfectionist, his willingness to wait hours for the color of the sky he needs, to cut out the roles of famous actors from the final version of the film and to remain silent for decades is legendary. He is a lifetime classic of cinema, with his own recognizable style and stubbornly bending his creative line.

Biography

Terrence Malick has not given interviews or talked about his personal life since the seventies, so little is known for sure about his biography. He was born on November 30, 1943 in the USA (according to some sources - in Waco, according to others - in Ottawa). His first education was philosophical: he studied philosophy at Harvard, then continued at Oxford, although he never finished it. After that, he worked as a journalist, taught philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 1969, Malik began to study cinema. His first work was the short film Lanton Mills. Then he worked on scripts for other directors for a while.

“Wasteland”

In 1973, Terrence Malick's debut feature film, "The Wasteland", was released. Starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. This is a kind of road movie about a couple in love (he is 25, she is 15), who become murderers and go on the run. Despite the criminal component of the plot, the atmosphere of the film is philosophical, existential, it tells more about the inner emptiness and loneliness of the characters than about the romance of the crime.

The shooting cost only 300 thousand dollars, but it was quite difficult. The film crew almost completely changed several times: people were dissatisfied with Malik's exactingness, and in general did not believe in the success of the project. Malik even had to play a cameo in the film himself, because the actor simply did not come to the shooting.

Wastelands was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, and twenty years later inducted into the National Film Registry.

“Days of Harvest”

Malik's next film came out five years later, in 1978, it was the picture "Days of Harvest" ("Paradise Days"). The film starred Richard Gere, and from this began his stellar career. His hero, along with his girlfriend and sister, is forced to hide in the wilderness and work on a farm, helping to harvest. Gradually, a love triangle arises, with which the heroes are trying to deal with.

To achieve a certain type of lighting, the picture was mostly shot at a certain moment of the day - twenty minutes before sunset. This created a special atmosphere in the film,but at the same time, of course, the filming process was greatly delayed. However, Malik's integrity was appreciated by viewers and critics. It is sometimes said that this film has the most beautiful picture in the history of cinema, and the cinematographer eventually received an Oscar for it.

Terrence Malick seemed to have a brilliant career after two successful films, but in the early eighties he unexpectedly left the USA for Paris, stopped making films and became a recluse. We can only guess why. Malik does not explain in any way the reason for this act and does not tell what he has been doing all these years. And now, when he returned to the profession of a film director and shoots almost a film a year, he basically does not give interviews, does not appear at social events, including at the premieres of his films.

“Thin red line”

Terrence Malick started work on The Thin Red Line back in 1988, but the project was constantly delayed, and the film was released only ten years later, in 1998 (that is, the gap between his second and third film is twenty years). By that time, Terrence Malick was already considered a living classic, and stars of the first magnitude were ready to act on him under any conditions. But the film "The Thin Red Line" became famous not only for the actors who are present in it (and these are, for example, George Clooney, Woody Harrelson, Adrien Brody, Sean Penn, James Caviezel, John Cusack), but also for the absent actors. The fact is that Malik completely cut out from the final versionroles played by Mickey Rourke, Billy Bob Thornton, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Viggo Mortensen, which further strengthened his reputation as a principled artist who solves his creative problems, regardless of the market conditions. War drama for Terrence Malick is rather a way to speculate about how a person and the world relates than to practice heroic pathos.

The Thin Red Line received the Berlin Golden Bear and seven Oscar nominations, though it didn't win any.

“New World”

In 2005, Malik's next film was released - "New World". The plot is based on the story of the conquest of the North American Indians, against which the love of two heroes unfolds, the English adventurer John Smith (played by Colin Farrell) and the Indian princess Pocahontes (played by Q'orianka Kilcher). Malik tried to make this picture as authentic as possible. For example, the shooting took place near the place of historical events, tobacco and corn were planted around, the actors were taught how to live in the environment of the first settlers, and all participating in the filming had to learn the language that the Indians then spoke.

The audience appreciated the “New World”, and in terms of box office it was quite successful, however, this film received fewer awards and good reviews from film critics than previous works from the filmography of Terrence Malick.

“Tree of Life”, “To the Miracle”, “Knight of Cups”, “Song after Song”

If Terrence Malick's early films are almost unanimousare recognized as classics of world cinema, then there are polar opinions about his later works. Some consider them to be the quintessence of his skill and philosophical approach to cinema, others - drawn out and pretentious. A characteristic feature of his later films is that they are poetic films with almost no plot. In them, Malik tries to make the audience “feel” the film, and not just watch it, being interested in the vicissitudes of the plot. One thing is clear: he stays true to himself and pursues his own creative challenges.