It’s not hard to believe thatTerrence Malickis releasing two films in 2017—he takesyearsto edit his features, so it could just happen that he finishes two at the same time. But what’s curious about Malick’s 2017 releases is that one was shot in 2012, and the other was shot in 2016. Meaning Malick has finally gotten around to anormalpost-production schedule on one of his features.
Song to Songis the one shot in 2012, but the movie that shot in 2016 is the World War II-set dramaRadegund, and the first image from that pic has been unveiled. The script, by Malick, is based on the true story of Franz Jaegerstaetter (played byAugust Diehlin the film), who was an Austrian farmer who refused to fight for the Third Reich when Austria was annexed in 1938.
The ensemble for the film includesMatthias Schoenaerts,Michael Nyqvist,Bruno Ganz,Jurgen Prochnow, and others, which is a change of pace from the star-studded casts that Malick has assembled for his past few features. Indeed,Radegundpromises to be quite different as the film is reportedly much more tightly scripted than Malick’s work post-The New World. On that film, the director was experimenting with improvisation, andTree of Life,To the Wonder, andKnight of Cupstook that further by operating without a full script, and instead shooting scenes on the fly. That explains the long post-production periods for those films—Malick was literally making them in the editing room—but withRadgegundpoised for release this year, one imagines this is a more traditional narrative.
Malick obviously ventured into World War II previously to stellar results withThe Thin Red Line, which earned a number of Oscar nominations including Best Picture. This first image, released viaVariety, gives us a look at Diehl’s character. Yet another fascinating piece of information aboutRadegundis that it’s not shot by Malick’s usual cinematographerEmmanuel Lubezki. Instead,Jörg Widmer, who has served as a camera operator on every Malick film sinceThe New World, took the DP reins.
Check out the image below.Radegunddoes not yet have a release date.
