Terrence Malick, 66, the director of Badlands (1973), Days of Heaven (1978), and The Thin Red Line (1998), is assembling the cast of his next film even though his latest effort, The Tree of Life, which features Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, hasn't even been released, yet. That's highly unusual, as Malick takes his time between projects. His last release to date was The New World in 2005.
Deadline Hollywood reports that Malick's "romantic drama" is to star The Dark Knight's Christian Bale, who played opposite Colin Farrell in The New World, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Olga Kurylenko, the Bond Girl in Quantum of Solace.
Though hardly a blockbuster, The Thin Red Line became a major cinematic event because it was Malick's first film in two decades. Stars were begging to be featured in the World War II drama, even if all they got to do was either look dirty or die on camera. Jim Caviezel had the biggest role; among the supporting players were Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, and Jared Leto.
Badlands starred Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek; Days of Heaven had Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, and Linda Manz.