'Arctic Blue' delivers this special report: Terence Malik, the man behind the acclaimed "The Thin Red Line", is back in the director's chair again with a new interpretation of the famous Pocahantas/John Smith story. Today one of our roving spies checked out the Virginian set of the film which stars the likes of Colin Farrell, Christian Bale and Christopher Plummer:
"Those who appreciate the excellent but unprolific work of Terrence Malick will have something to look forward to next fall. "The New World" looks to be a beautiful and subtle movie, punctuated with violence. Three scenes and at least one insert were shot in the oldest house in America, a 16th century English manor taken apart timber by timber, and reassembled in Virginia on the north bank of the James River. For the film, the house doubled for an English interior location. On site were Christopher Plummer (Christopher Newport), Christian Bale (John Rolfe), Q'Orianka Kilcher (Pocahontas), and Roger Rees (?).
In what was obviously the most important scene, John Rolfe paces from room to room mulling over his crumbling marriage with Pocahontas. Newport advises him not to let her play with his emotions. As Rolfe comes to stand in front of a window, he tells Newport that he feels he shouldn't hold her in a marriage she entered into in "mischief." He doesn't want her to be manacled to him like a prisoner.
The actors spoke very very low, the mikes being on their persons, and this only added the particular intensity of Bale's performance as Rolfe. They ran this scene over ten times with various tracking and following shots with a steadycam to cover both Bale's and Plummer's faces. In a final go at it, Malick himself set a camera on his shoulder and shot the conversation-by-the-window-portion. It's important to mention here that the fellow everyone kept calling "Chavo" or something was actually the DP. This could give some kind of hint as to how this film's going to look, since he did Y Tu Mama Tambien and the new Lemony Snicket movie.
Near the sound man, someone had set up a laptop and was giving a slideshow of digital photos taken from the shoot at Jamestown. This was really where I glimpsed the overall look of the movie. The costuming for the Indians was amazing. Some savage, some noble, some freakish. One native had his ear pierced with a live garter snake. Knowing Malick, there's no way the side of this guy's head won't be in the final cut.
Other pictures included Indians running through the woods, behind the scenes jocularity, and John Smith (Colin Farrell) about to be killed. This last sequence looked to be in the realistic Malick violence. Then a picture came up of Pocahontas shielding him from the tribe's judgment. I personally do not like Colin Farrell as an actor. He's just too Colin Farrelly all the time. However, I trust Malick more than I distrust Farrell, and this scene seems to justify everything. It just looked too good to go wrong.
In the adjoining room to the one Bale paced through, Plummer meets Roger Rees (many will remember him as Robin Colcord from "Cheers" way back when) in his office. I'm sure this is supposed to take place miles from the room where Rolfe laments his marriage, but it was really about twelve feet. In this, it becomes clear that Newport is trying to doing something special in the New World. Rees (his character's name is unknown to me) is questioning Newport's intentions while going over some maps. Newport wants land that is apparently worthless. This is interesting to me because Newport founded, among other things, the city of Richmond where the shoot was taking place.
Again the actors spoke low, but it was clear from his reaction to flubbing his lines, Rees enjoyed himself. When he finished everyone wished him well and said goodbye. I have learned since that Roger Rees is sixty years old and simply doesn't look anywhere near it. He exudes charm, and in his few minutes on the set made more of a presence than Bale did. Of course, this could just be each actor's style, especially with regard to their respective scenes. After that an insert shot of Plummer leafing through maps, and joking while doing so.
Then everything went upstairs to a bedroom for Pocahontas' scene. The fourteen year old Kilcher was as pretty and sweet as you could ask. In the shot, she walks into her new English bedroom and dances. What I think was mandolin music played on a speaker for her to dance to for about thirty to forty-five minutes. It was raining lightly outside, and Malick decided to grab a shot of her dancing outside on a maze cut into the back lawn. (Note: the manor house is actually a museum, and the maze is always there, not just for the movie.) Behind the scenes most everyone was nice, but mostly business. And whatever reputation Malick has for being cantankerous has to be false. Everyone called him "Terry," and he was cool, mellow, and quite avuncular. Now finally, I love Terrence Malick, and in what would send me for hours into bouts of esprit d'escalier, I found myself alone in a room with him, he coming from the potty, me dropping off a walkie-talkie at the front desk, he thanked me for helping and I said, "Certainly." Just "Certainly." Not something great or grateful or impressive or anything. Just "Certainly." So stupid".
