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

===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" />