Tree of Life script
Interesting observations about The Tree of Life from actress Jessica Chastain. Check out her thoughts on Terence Malick’s script:
When it comes to certain ideas and images, how is Malick as a writer? Is he very detailed?
I think The Tree of Life script should be published. I say this to everyone, because I hope someday it will be. It was one of the best screenplays I had ever read. It’s not written like a screenplay. There are sometimes 25-pages of all prose, no dialog, but just subtext. The dialog is written as the character’s thoughts. A lot of the time Terry would say to me after a take, “That’s great, Jessica. Now, can you do this speech without any of the words?” [Laughs] It is a huge leap of faith an actor takes with a director.
I know he had a cut that ran over four hours at one point. Do you remember what was in the script or what you shot that didn’t make it in the film?
Oh gosh. The way the script is written is that it was more about ideas than just “this has to happen.” I talk about this a lot, but the scene where I am dancing in the air was an accident, and that wasn’t written in the script. There are moments in the script that talk about the lightness and grace the mother has… I’m sure in the editing room, when going through the script and trying to find different examples of what he’s written, he’s able to place that as an example of her.
It’s always that kind of a thing. As an actor working on it, you never know what is going to be in the film, because you’re telling the same story in many different ways. Like, Terry would have me say the same thing, but he’d give me 20 different ways to say it. That would go across three months, then three years, and just figuring out what’s another way to say “love everyone”. We would always look for new ways to say something. It’s hard to say what didn’t make it in, because I feel like everything made it in.
25 pages of prose. If your name is Terence Malick, you can get away with that. If not… good luck!
Seriously while I wouldn’t recommend it, I have to stick to my guns. To whit: There is no right way to write. If it works, it works, including 25 pages of prose.
For more of the interview, go here. Just in general, try to read interviews with actors when they talk about digging into a script and finding their character. Helpful for a writer to see how they think. After all, you’re writing a script for them to perform.
HT to TJ Martin for the link.