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

===Principal photography===

{{multiple image
   | direction = vertical
   | width     = 250
   | 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
   | alt1      =
   | caption1  =
}}

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"/>