Update: According to The Wrap, Ben Affleck has indeed joined Terrence Malick’s film, replacing Christian Bale. Rachel Weisz has also joined the cast. Filming is set to begin in the first week of October.
Following our story this morning, an anonymous commenter mentioned that the Bartlesville Convention and Visitors Bureau held a meeting this week with people who will be working on the film where Affleck made an appearance and that local homes were already being sought for the production. In addition, The Hole Bead Shoppe, the blog of a local store, also reported that in addition to Affleck and Jennifer Garner, other cast members have been sighted in town over the past week.
Presumably this means that “The Tree Of Life” is pretty much close to being finished, though it still doesn’t mean we’re anywhere closer to seeing it. Debates are raging around The Playlist water cooler with some of us thinking that it will bypass festival appearances altogether and screen for critics/awards contention only at the end of the year with a wider release next year (a move Malick did with his last film “The New World”) while others are saying we won’t see it until Cannes 2011.
Either way, the news of potential of back-to-back Malick films is a cinephile’s dream. Our original report from this morning, after the jump:
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Terrence Malick isn’t even finished the film he’s working on now, but talk of his next project is already buzzing.
Way back in February it was reported that the director was going to shoot a film this fall, right after “The Tree Of Life” was in the can. As usual, details on the film were non-existent but it was said that Christian Bale (who had a role in Malick’s 2005 film, “The New World”) , Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Olga Kurylenko were all on board for the untitled romantic drama. Well, with “The Tree Of Life” now in the midst of Malick’s typically long post-production and editing process, the director’s next film is looking less and less likely to shoot this fall.
But don’t let that stop the rumors from flying. Tulsa World (via AICN) is reporting that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were recently spotted in Malick’s hometown of Bartlesville, with Affleck apparently telling an employee of Broken Arrow’s Bass Pro Shop that he was buying fishing equipment because he was filming a movie in town where he would be playing a fisherman. One rumor said that Affleck was also given a tour of the Hughes Ranch which McAdams was shown back in 2009, but owner John Hughes denies that claim saying, “I sure haven’t seen any stars, but I sure have had the calls. This gal called, and she said, ‘Sir, I’m a single mom, and I need work as an extra on that movie they’re making out there.’ I had to disappoint her.”
Local officials say that other than the currently shooting “Bringing Up Bobby,” a Famke Janssen-directed drama starring Milla Jovovich and Bill Pullman, there are no plans as far as they know for a film to be shot in the region (or even the state) with Jill Simpson, the head of Oklahoma’s Film & Music Office adding, “After [‘Bringing Up Bobby’], we won’t have anything filming in the state. Hopefully we will have one start in the fall.”
So what does this all mean? Well, all we know for sure is that Affleck and Garner were in Bartelsville, and no offense to the city’s residents, we doubt it was just to hang out and view the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Price Tower. But file it under rumor and speculation for now, but the pairing of Affleck and Malick is certainly an intriguing proposition.
Original story posted 8/12/10 at 8:53 AM