Editing The Thin Red Line (1998 film) (section)

==Production==

===Screenplay===
[[New York City|New York]]-based producer Bobby Geisler first approached Malick in 1978 and asked him to direct a film adaptation of [[David Rabe]]'s play ''[[In the Boom Boom Room]]''. Malick declined the offer, but instead discussed the idea of a film about the life of [[Joseph Merrick]]. Once word got out about [[David Lynch]]'s film of ''[[The Elephant Man (1980 film)|The Elephant Man]]'', he shelved the idea. In 1988, Geisler and John Roberdeau met with Malick in [[Paris]] about writing and directing a movie based on [[D. M. Thomas]]' 1981 novel ''[[The White Hotel]]''. Malick declined, but told them that he would be willing instead to write either an adaptation of [[Molière]]'s ''[[Tartuffe]]'', or of [[James Jones (author)|James Jones]]' ''[[The Thin Red Line (1962 novel)|The Thin Red Line]]''. The producers chose the latter and paid Malick $250,000 to write a [[screenplay]].<ref name="Biskind">{{cite news
 | last = Biskind
 | first = Peter
 | title = The Runaway Genius
 | work = [[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]
 | date = August 1999
 | url = https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/classic/features/runaway-genius-199812
 | access-date = 2010-04-22
 | archive-date = November 28, 2010
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101128042610/http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/classic/features/runaway-genius-199812
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref>

Malick began adapting ''The Thin Red Line'' on January 1, 1989. Five months later, the producers received his first draft, which was 300 pages long.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Young |first=Josh |date=1998-07-11 |title=Hollywood's prodigal son |work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> In 1990, Malick met with James Jones' widow Gloria and Jones' daughter Kaylie about adapting ''The Thin Red Line'' into a film.<ref name="Puig">{{cite news |last=Puig |first=Claudia |date=January 7, 1999 |title=The Magic of Malick |work=[[USA Today]] |url=<!--| access-date = 2008-01-07-->}}</ref> The producers spent a lot of time talking with Malick about his vision of the film. Geisler said,<blockquote>Malick's Guadalcanal would be a [[Paradise Lost]], an [[Garden of Eden|Eden]], raped by the green poison, as Terry used to call it, of war. Much of the violence was to be portrayed indirectly. A soldier is shot, but rather than showing a [[Steven Spielberg|Spielbergian]] bloody face we see a tree explode, the shredded vegetation, and a gorgeous bird with a broken wing flying out of a tree.<ref name="Biskind"/></blockquote>

Malick spent years working on other projects, including a stage production of ''[[Sansho the Bailiff]]'' and a script known as ''The English-Speaker'', spending $2&nbsp;million of the producers' money, half of which for writing.<ref name="Biskind"/> According to an article in ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'', the producers gained Malick's confidence by "catering to his every whim,"<ref name="Young">{{cite magazine |last=Young |first=Josh |date=January 15, 1999 |title=Days of Hell |url=https://ew.com/article/1999/01/15/terrence-malick-returns-directing/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110621002520/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,274092,00.html |archive-date=2011-06-21 |access-date=2023-01-07}}</ref> providing him with obscure research material, including a book titled ''Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia'', an audiotape of [[Kodō (taiko group)|Kodō]]'s ''Heartbeat Drummers of Japan'', information on the [[Navajo people|Navajo]] [[code talkers]] recruited by the [[United States Marine Corps]], making his travel plans, and helping the director and his wife Michele get a [[mortgage loan|mortgage]] for their Paris apartment.<ref name="Abramowitz">{{cite news |last=Abramowitz |first=Rachel |date=March 1999 |title=Straight Out the Jungle |work=[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]] |url=<!--| access-date = 2008-01-07-->}}</ref>

By January 1995, Geisler and Roberdeau were broke and pressured Malick to decide which project he would complete. They approached Malick's former agent, [[Mike Medavoy]], who was setting up his own production company, Phoenix Pictures, and he agreed to give them $100,000 to start work on ''The Thin Red Line''.<ref name="Biskind" /> Medavoy had a deal with [[Sony Pictures]] and Malick began scouting locations in [[Panama]] and [[Costa Rica]] before settling on the rain forests of northern [[Australia]].<ref name="Docherty">{{cite news
 | last = Docherty
 | first = Cameron
 | title = Maverick Back from the Badlands
 | work = [[Sunday Times]]
 | date = June 7, 1998
 | url = <!--| access-date = 2008-01-07-->}}</ref> In April 1997, three months before filming, Sony pulled the plug while crews were building the sets in [[Queensland]], because new studio chairman [[John Calley]] did not think Malick could make his movie with the proposed $52&nbsp;million budget.<ref name="Docherty" /> Malick traveled to [[Los Angeles]] with Medavoy to pitch the project to various studios. [[20th Century Fox]] agreed to put up $39&nbsp;million of the budget with the stipulation that Malick cast five movie stars from a list of 10 who were interested.<ref name="Docherty" /> Pioneer Films, a Japanese company, contributed $8&nbsp;million to the budget, and Phoenix Pictures added $3&nbsp;million.<ref name="Docherty" />

===Casting===

Casting for the film became a hot topic. When [[Sean Penn]] met Malick, he told him, "Give me a dollar and tell me where to show up."<ref name="Young"/> Scripts were also sent to [[Robert De Niro]], [[Robert Duvall]] and [[Tom Cruise]]. In 1995, once word went out that Malick was making another movie after many years, numerous actors approached him, flooding the casting directors until they had to announce they wouldn't be accepting more requests. Some A-list actors including [[Brad Pitt]], [[Al Pacino]], [[Gary Oldman]], and [[George Clooney]] offered to work for a fraction and some even offered to work for free. [[Bruce Willis]] even went as far as offering to pay for first-class tickets for the casting crew, to get a few lines for the movie. At Medavoy's home in 1995, Malick staged a reading with [[Martin Sheen]] delivering the screen directions, and [[Kevin Costner]], [[Will Patton]], [[Peter Berg]], [[Lukas Haas]], and [[Dermot Mulroney]] playing the main roles.<ref name="Biskind"/> In June of that year, a five-day workshop was scheduled at Medavoy's with Pitt dropping by, and culminating with Malick putting on the soundtrack of ''[[Where Eagles Dare]]'' and playing Japanese taiko drums. Malick met with an interested [[Johnny Depp]] about the project at the Book Soup Bistro on the [[Sunset Strip]].<ref name="Biskind"/>

[[Edward Norton]] flew out to Austin and met Malick, who had been impressed by the actor's screen test for ''[[Primal Fear (film)|Primal Fear]]''. [[Matthew McConaughey]] reportedly took a day off filming ''[[A Time to Kill (1996 film)|A Time to Kill]]'' to see Malick. Others followed, including [[William Baldwin]], [[Edward Burns]], [[Josh Hartnett]], [[Crispin Glover]], [[Philip Seymour Hoffman]], [[Stephen Dorff]], and [[Leonardo DiCaprio]]; the last of these flew up from the Mexico set of ''[[William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet|Romeo + Juliet]]'' to meet Malick at the [[American Airlines]] lounge in the Austin airport.<ref name="Abramowitz"/> Before the casting was finalized, [[Nicolas Cage]] had lunch with Malick in Hollywood in February 1996. Malick went off to scout locations and tried calling Cage that summer only to find out that his phone number had been disconnected. [[Tom Sizemore]], however, was offered a more substantial role in ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' and, when he could not contact Malick for several days, decided to do [[Steven Spielberg]]'s film instead.<ref name="Abramowitz"/> Actors [[Bill Pullman]], [[Mickey Rourke]], and Lukas Haas filmed scenes for the movie but were cut from the final film due to time constraints.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/09/thin-red-line-dvd-first-look-at-mickey.html | title=The Thin Red Line DVD: First Look at Mickey Rourke & 8 Other Outtakes from Terrence Malick's War Film | access-date=May 22, 2011 | archive-date=August 17, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817032355/http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/09/thin-red-line-dvd-first-look-at-mickey.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Publicity stills of Pullman (as Sgt. MacTae, in a scene opposite Brody and Chaplin) can be seen online, Haas is pictured in the booklet of the CD soundtrack, and one of Rourke's scenes was restored for the Criterion Blu-Ray/DVD release of the film. Malick wrote a part specifically for Oldman, but the character was eventually scrapped before production began due to too many characters being in the film. He was later thanked in the credits along with Lukas, [[Viggo Mortensen]], Sheen, Rourke, Pullman and [[Jason Patric]].

[[James Caviezel]], who was cast as Private Witt, credits Malick's casting of him as the turning point in his career.<ref>{{cite news
 | last=Atkinson | first=Michael | title=James Caviezel: why Hollywood learned to pronounce his name in a hurry | work=[[Interview (magazine)|Interview]] | date=November 2001 | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_11_31/ai_94690066 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613195034/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_11_31/ai_94690066 | url-status=dead | archive-date=2006-06-13 | access-date= 2007-05-11}}</ref>

===Principal photography===

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   | footer    = [[Daintree Rainforest]] and [[Bramston Beach, Queensland|Bramston Beach]], where much of the film was shot.
   | image1    = Daintree Rainforest, Queensland (483855) (9440811465).jpg
   | image2    = BramstonBeach.JPG
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}}

Cinematographer [[John Toll]] began talking to Malick in August 1996 several times over the phone about the film.<ref name="Bourton">{{cite news | last=Bourton | first=Tom | title=The Art of War | work=Home Cinema Choice | date=May 2000 | url=http://www.homecinemachoice.com/articles/hccarticles/interviews/JohnToll/200005ArtOfWar.php | access-date=2007-11-27 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928102419/http://www.homecinemachoice.com/articles/hccarticles/interviews/JohnToll/200005ArtOfWar.php | archive-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref> Toll met Malick in September of the same year and was asked to do the film in the beginning of 1997. Malick and Toll began [[location scouting]] in February 1997 and started principal photography in June of that year.<ref name="Bourton"/>

Pre-production went slowly. Weeks before filming began, Malick told Geisler and Roberdeau not to show up in Australia where the film was being made, ostensibly because George Stevens Jr. would be the on-location producer supporting line producer [[Grant Hill (producer)|Grant Hill]].<ref name="Biskind"/> Malick told them that they had upset the studio for refusing to give up above-the-title production credit to Stevens. He did not tell them that in 1996 he had a clause inserted in his contract barring the producers from the set.<ref name="Young"/> Geisler and Roberdeau were mystified about this behavior; Geisler told ''Entertainment Weekly'', "I didn't think he was capable of betrayal of this magnitude."<ref name="Young"/>

Malick and Toll shot for 100 days in Australia using Panavision cameras and lenses, 24 days in the [[Solomon Islands]] and three days in the United States. They scouted the historic battlefields on Guadalcanal and shot footage, but health concerns over [[malaria]] limited filming to daylight hours only. Logistics were also difficult to shoot the entire film there:<ref name="Bourton"/> As director of photography John Toll put it, "It's still a bit difficult to get on and off the island, and we had some scenes that involved 200 or 300 extras. We would have had to bring everybody to Guadalcanal, and financially it just didn't make sense."<ref>{{cite news | last=Pizzello | first=Stephen | title=The War Within | work=[[American Cinematographer]] | date=February 1999 | url=http://www.theasc.com/magazine/feb99/war/index.htm | access-date=2008-01-07 | archive-date=November 7, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107045342/http://www.theasc.com/magazine/feb99/war/index.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Thin Red Line'' was filmed predominantly in the [[Daintree Rainforest]] and on [[Bramston Beach, Queensland|Bramston Beach]], both in north [[Queensland, Australia]].<ref name="Handy">{{cite magazine | last=Handy | first=Bruce | author2=Port Douglas | title=His Own Sweet Time | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=October 13, 1997 | url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987179,00.html | access-date=2023-01-11 | archive-date=May 26, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526231153/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987179,00.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Filming also took place on Dancer Mountain, which had such rough terrain that trailers and production trucks could not make it up the hill. A base camp was set up and roads carved out of the mountain. Transporting 250 actors and 200 crew members up the hill took two hours. Filming took place in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California near Santa Catalina Island.

Malick's unconventional filming techniques included shooting part of a scene during a bright, sunny morning only to finish it weeks later at sunset. He made a habit of pointing the camera away during an action sequence and focus on a [[parrot]], a tree branch or other fauna.<ref name="Puig"/> Malick's reputation and working methods commanded great respect among the actors, with both [[Woody Harrelson]] and [[John Savage (actor)|John Savage]] staying on for an extra month after they finished all of their scenes just to watch him at work.<ref name="Puig"/>

===Post-production===
[[Bill Pullman]], [[Lukas Haas]] and [[Mickey Rourke]] performed but their scenes were eventually cut. [[Billy Bob Thornton]] recorded narration that was scrapped. [[Martin Sheen]] and [[Viggo Mortensen]] participated in readthroughs of the script and are thanked in the end credits.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2013/04/10-actors-cut-from-terrence-malick-films-how-they-reacted-99568/|title=10 Actors Cut From Terrence Malick Films & How They Reacted|first=Jessica|last=Kiang|date=April 10, 2013|access-date=April 20, 2020|archive-date=July 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210713224834/https://www.indiewire.com/2013/04/10-actors-cut-from-terrence-malick-films-how-they-reacted-99568/|url-status=live}}</ref> Editor Leslie Jones was on location for five months and rarely saw Malick, who left her to her own devices.<ref name="Torgerson">{{cite magazine
 | last=Torgerson
 | first=Liv
 | title=Conversations With ... Billy Weber and Leslie Jones
 | magazine=Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
 | volume=20
 | issue=3
 | date=May–June 1999
 | url=http://www.editorsguild.com/v2/magazine/Newsletter/MayJun99/weber_jones.html
 | access-date=2007-11-27
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518030610/http://www.editorsguild.com/v2/magazine/Newsletter/MayJun99/weber_jones.html
 | archive-date=May 18, 2008
 | url-status=dead
}}</ref> After principal photography wrapped, she came back with a five-hour first cut and spent seven months editing, with Thornton contributing three hours of narrative voice-over material.<ref name="Young"/><ref name="Torgerson"/> It was at this point that editor [[Billy Weber]] joined and they spent 13 months in post-production and the last four months mixing the film, using four [[Avid Technology|Avid]] machines with a fifth added at one point.<ref name="Torgerson"/> Malick edited the footage one reel at a time with the sound off while listening to a [[Green Day]] CD.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Winter|first1=Jessica|title=Absence of Malick|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/dvdextras/2010/10/absence_of_malick.html|website=slate.com|date=October 5, 2010 |publisher=Slate|access-date=25 March 2016|archive-date=March 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324133622/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/dvdextras/2010/10/absence_of_malick.html|url-status=live}}</ref> There were no preview screenings but several in-house ones, the largest for marketing executives which was attended by 15 people.<ref name="Torgerson"/> The editors faced the challenge of blending footage of veteran actors with less-experienced ones, integrating the many cameos, and the voice-overs. According to Jones, "Malick removed scenes with dialogue whenever possible, with the final film varying greatly from the original concept."<ref name="Torgerson"/> Four months after principal photography, Malick invited Toll to a rough-cut screening of the film.<ref name="Bourton"/> In December 1998, Toll did the first color correction at the lab prior to the film's release in North America.<ref name="Bourton"/>

The editing resulted in many of the well-known cast members being on screen for only a brief period. John Travolta and George Clooney's appearances are little more than [[Cameo appearance|cameos]], yet Clooney's name appears prominently in the marketing of the movie. The unfinished film was screened for the New York press in December 1998 and [[Adrien Brody]] attended a screening to find that his originally significant role, "to carry the movie", as he put it, had been reduced to two lines and approximately five minutes of screen time.<ref>{{cite news
 | last = Mottram
 | first = James
 | title = The Prime of Mr. Adrien Brody
 | work = [[The Independent]]
 | date = April 21, 2001
 }}</ref>

Malick was upset that the studio screened his unfinished version for critics and Penn ended up helping him in the editing room, shaping the final version.<ref name="Young"/> Malick spent three more months and cut 45 additional minutes from the film. The director refused to subject his film to test screenings before delivering his final cut.<ref name="Portman">{{cite news
 | last = Portman
 | first = Jamie
 | title = Elusive Director Surfaces with ''Thin Red Line''
 | work = [[Montreal Gazette]]
 | date = January 2, 1999
 | url = <!--| access-date = 2008-01-07-->}}</ref> After Geisler and Roberdeau told their story to ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' magazine, Medavoy's attorneys declared them in breach of contract and threatened to remove their names from the film unless they agreed to do no future interviews until after the [[Academy Award]]s.<ref name="Biskind"/>