With a career that began back in 1969, Terrence Malick has become one of the best known directors in film, despite having directed just six films in the past fifty years, well known for the gaps between his films.
More recently, however, the writer-director has been beyond prolific, winning the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes with The Tree of Life, and having an untitled film starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Jessica Chastain, Rachel Weisz, and Javier Bardem currently in post-production, due out this year.
And to add to all of that, he’s also announced, and begun preliminary filming on, Lawless, which will star Ryan Gosling in the lead, alongside Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Haley Bennett, which will shoot in the autumn. And before that, he’ll be filming Knight of Cups this summer, which will also star Bale and Blanchett, as well as Isabel Lucas.
We’ve now got some more brilliant casting news to add to both Lawless and Knight of Cups, with Deadline reporting that the ever-talented Natalie Portman is joining the already impressive casts of the two films, which means that she, Bale, and Blanchett will all be starring in them both.
The films are set to be sold at the European Film Market in Berlin tomorrow, with FilmNation selling the international territories and CAA dealing the US rights. With such an established man like Malick writing and directing, and with two sets of wonderfully talented casts, hopefully they shouldn’t have too much trouble getting picked up.
On top of winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year, Malick’s last film, The Tree of Life, has three Oscar nominations to its name in the Best Picture, Best Directing, and Best Cinematography categories, and I can’t wait to see how that plays out at the end of the month when the Academy Awards are held on 26th February.
Portman, herself, is of course no stranger to the Oscars, having won Best Actress for her outstanding performance in Black Swan last year, and earning a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for 2004’s Closer, and these two projects will mark her first films since taking maternity leave after the birth of her first child last summer.
