By MICHAEL SMITH Movie Critic on Aug 12, 2010, at 11:01 PM Updated on 8/12 at 11:01 PM
I SEE MOVIES FOR FREE
A pair of Tulsa icons come together Thursday night as 'The Outsiders' kicks off a special double-feature event at the Admiral ...
There's a reason that the Eagles were the opening-night act for both Tulsa's BOK Center and the Ford Center in Oklahoma City: ...
'As I Lay Dying,' a film based on the William Faulkner novel and featuring James Franco and Tulsa native Tim Blake Nelson, ...
Why did Ben Affleck visit Bartlesville? It may be for the same reason that Christian Bale showed up there in 2008, and why Rachel McAdams came to town in 2009 for a tour: They all want to make a movie with filmmaker Terrence Malick.
Bale and McAdams have previously been attached to the long-gestating project known only as the “Untitled Terrence Malick Project” in Hollywood circles that even have that much information about the secretive filmmaker, who was raised in Bartlesville.
Hollywood industry news website The Wrap on Thursday quoted an unnamed source “familiar with the project” as saying that Affleck, as well as fellow Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz, had been cast in Malick’s film.
Weisz’s publicist confirmed the casting, the Wrap said, but Affleck’s management had not. The report went on to say that Affleck “seems” to be replacing Bale in the cast for what’s been described as a romantic drama.
The many sightings of Affleck, his actress wife Jennifer Garner and their children, ranging from Broken Arrow’s Bass Pro (where he posed for photos and apparently told an employee he was shooting a film in Bartlesville and needed fishing equipment) make sense in connection to Malick’s planned picture.
Of course, a start date for a Malick film shooting in Oklahoma is purely speculative. The meticulous director is still looking to release his latest film, “Tree of Life,” starring Sean Penn and Brad Pitt, later this year for Oscar consideration.
For Malick – a man who went 20 years between films with 1978’s “Days of Heaven” and 1998’s “The Thin Red Line” – to begin shooting a new film this year would be uncharacteristic, to say the least. But the director is 66, and his last two films have been produced in seven and five years, respectively.
While the Wrap said Malick’s film is to begin production in October in Oklahoma, I can only recall what Jill Simpson, director of the Oklahoma Film & Music Office told me on Wednesday, which wasn’t much: that she hoped a new film (she did not supply a title) would start production in the state in the fall, but she’d believe it when the cameras start rolling.
Affleck or his wife – or both – may likely have been visiting our state in connection to a future film project. Is that the “Untitled Terrence Malick Project?” Stay tuned.
Only active print or digital subscribers of the Tulsa World are allowed to post comments on stories posted to Tulsaworld.com. After you fill out the form below and click submit, your comment will be published instantly online along with your screen name.
By clicking "Submit" you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.
