UPDATE: Has anyone seen Terrence Malick lately? Apparently, he’s still deep in the editing process for “The Way of the Wind.” The elusive filmmaker was once again absent from this year’s Venice Film Festival lineup, which likely means the film won’t see the light of day until—if we’re lucky—sometime next year.
At this point, no one’s really surprised. Could “The Way of the Wind” become Malick’s “unfinished symphony”? The last sign of life came in March, when “Friendship” director Andrew DeYoung mentioned in an interview that he had invited Malick to his SXSW premiere. Malick’s response? A brief message saying he was “too busy” and “editing right now.”
EARLIER: At this point, you have to laugh.
Last year, there were hopeful reports that Terrence Malick’s “The Way of the Wind” was nearing completion and entering the sound mixing stage. You even had the main actor, Géza Röhrig, who plays Jesus in Malick’s biblical epic, saying that the film would premiere at Cannes 2025.
Clearly, that hasn’t occurred. ‘Way of the Wind’ is still missing in action, and there seems to be no end in sight. It didn’t show up in this morning’s announcement of the Cannes Film Festival lineup. The film was shot in 2019.
A few months ago, I reported a source close to Malick’s telling me that the film was “nowhere near finished.” A month later, some hopes had been raised when Variety reported that the film, or an edited reel of it, had been privately screened in California for buyers.
That same source who had told me that the film was “nowhere near finished,” and could become Malick’s “unfinished symphony,” emailed me this morning with a “told you so” message.
Mr. Malick says his picture is nowhere near being able to show — anywhere.
“The Way of the Wind” is the longest time Malick has taken to editing a film, and it’s not even close. I remember a time when people were astounded by the three years of post-prod on “Tree of Life,” and “A Hidden Life,” but those examples pale in comparison to the gargantuan task of shaping ‘Way of the Wind.’ It’s come to the point where, according to The Film Stage, Malick started dishing out editing duties to his cast
“The Way of the Wind” conveys passages “in the life of Christ” through the representation of evangelical parables. Jesus Christ's descent into the world of the dead, also known as his “descent into hades,” rumored to be one of the parables included in the film. The cast includes the likes of Matthias Schoenaerts (as Saint Peter), Röhrig (as Jesus), Ben Kingsley, Joseph Fiennes, and Mark Rylance (as Satan).
So, Malick continues on … It’s been six years since the editing phase began on “The Way of the Wind,” and there’s no way of really knowing when he’ll be finished with it. According to actor Mathieu Kassovitz, Malick supposedly shot close to 3000 hours of footage for ‘Way of the Wind,’ and maybe that’s what’s gotten the filmmaker all overwhelmed in trying to nail final cut.