As he continues to edit “The Way of the Wind,” Terrence Malick apparently has another surprise in store for us. Turns out that the filmmaker has been editing a longer cut of 2012’s “To the Wonder,” much like he did with the extended versions for “Tree of Life” and “The New World.”
Keith Fraase, one of that film’s five credited editors, is telling The Malick Hour (via The Film Stage), “I know there’s a longer version of ‘To the Wonder” that they’ve been working on for a while.” While admitting he doesn’t “particularly know what that would consist of,” he speculated on “abandoned storylines” such as “a lot more with Ben [Affleck’s] job.”
Like many Malick productions before it, “To the Wonder” had numerous actors who were left on the cutting-room floor, including Jessica Chastain, Michael Sheen, Rachel Weisz, Barry Pepper, and Amanda Peet. His follow-up film, the equally divisive “Song to Song,” also ended up nixing Christian Bale, Benicio Del Toro, Haley Bennett, Trevante Rhodes, and Boyd Holbrook.
After five acclaimed films (“Badlands,” “Days to Heaven,” “The Thin Red Line,” “The New World,” and “Tree of Life”), “To the Wonder” marked the first time in Malick’s career that a film of his got panned by critics. Malick's direction was, as always, excellent, and Emanuel Lubezki's cinematography sumptuous, though the story itself rang hollow for some and signaled the beginning of an artistic slump for the legendary filmmaker.
The film, which starred Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko, finally settled with a 48% rotten score and 58 on Metacritic. Malick’s following two films (“Knight of Cups” and “Song to Song”) were also not that well-received by critics. Many believe he had an artistic comeback, of sorts, with 2019’s “A Hidden Life.”
I connect “To the Wonder” more towards it being the final film Roger Ebert reviewed before his death. He gave it 3.5 stars out of 4. Also, The New Yorker’s Richard Brody proclaimed it to be the best film of 2013. The film certainly has its fans, a cultish bunch, but hopefully Malick’s new cut vastly improves upon the original.
In the meantime, Fraase also hints at a potential extended cut of “Song to Song,” and confirms that there is not much additional footage to give the same treatment to “Knight of Cups.”
I should warn you: based on everything I’ve heard, this teaser is a total misdirection. The movie is not at all what it’s being portrayed as here. In fact, most of the footage in the teaser comes from the first few minutes of the film.