Who knows given the editorial whims of Terrence Malick, who takes as long as he damn well pleases on any given movie, but hopefully somewhere in the twelve months that will comprise the calendar year of 2017, his film “Weightless” will arrive, most likely at a festival. At any rate, it does appear to be in the can, with a runtime and cast list revealed earlier this year, but again, who knows what tinkering he’s done since then. And as per usual, exact details about the movie remain under guard, though we do know it focuses on intersecting relationships in the Austin music scene. And now a few more nuggets about the picture have emerged.
A profile on Michael Fassbender in The Times reveals that he plays a “Lucifer”-like character in the film, and that he shares scenes with punk legends Iggy Pop and John Lydon (of the Sex Pistols), with the latter duo previously going unmentioned among the extensive participants in “Weightless.” With sequences filmed during the Austin City Limits festival a few years back, the actors performed in the midst of concerts by Arcade Fire, Iron & Wine, Fleet Foxes, Black Lips, and Patti Smith. Again, it’s not certain how much of that footage will wind up in the movie.
What we do know is that Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Haley Bennett, Natalie Portman, Val Kilmer, Benicio Del Toro, Clifton Collins Jr., Angela Bettis, Bérénice Marlohe, Florence Welch, and Holly Hunter are all in the movie to varying degrees, but as always, that could change.
So, consider this another intriguing ingredient in Malick’s next movie, which hopefully we’ll be seeing sooner rather than later.