Terrence Malick premiered his World War II-era drama, “A Hidden Life” at Cannes Film Festival, after three years of production. I thought it was a messy return to narrative storytelling for the legendary writer-director. Regardless, the film was picked up by Fox Searchlight and is about to be released this month for Oscar contention. However, here comes huge news if you’re a Malick aficionado: he’s already wrapped up shooting his next movie in Rome, this one titled “The Last Planet.”
“The Last Planet” will reportedly convey passages “in the life of Christ” through representing evangelical parables. The First Image from Terrence Malick's Biblical-Drama has been released, so has the cast which includes the likes of Matthias Schoenaerts (as Saint Peter), Géza Röhrig (as Jesus), Ben Kingsley, Joseph Fiennes, and Mark Rylance (as Satan).
Variety spoke with one of the film’s producers, Karim Debbagh, The producer described “The Last Planet” as a “highly spiritual experience” that puts a “dark genre twist” on the biblical story.
In addition, Malick spoked about the film at a recent event (via La Repubblica/One Big Soul):
“We have just finished shooting, I am very happy,” he said. “A few days ago we finished shooting in the desert of Jordan. [It’s] a multicultural film with a cast that brings together Middle Eastern actors, a German troupe, and even Italian artists in the costumes department and set design (costume designer Carlo Poggioli and production designer Stefano Maria Ortolani). Now I go back to Texas to edit the film. It will take at least a year because we have a lot of material, and since we go digital, we end up with many more images. My favorite moment of the work is the editing. There is no longer the set pressure, the uncertainty of the weather on the shoot. I am very happy to be here at the end of this long journey. I would like to be able to stay longer in Rome. We have an early plane that takes us to Austin.”
“The Last Planet” has a stacked cast which includes Mark Rylance, Matthias Schoenaerts, Aidan Turner, Joseph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Douglas Booth, Tawfeek Barhom, Martin McCann, Ori Pfeffer, Shadi Mar’i, Makram Khoury, Numan Acar, Emilio De Marchi, Bjorn Thors, Alfonso Postiglione, Lorenzo Gioielli, and Geza Rohrig as Jesus Christ.
Here's a small scoop for Sunday night. Nothing too exciting, since it concerns the once-promising Ben Wheatley, a filmmaker who broke out with the cult-horror gut-punch of "Kill List" and "A Field in England.”