The Popcorn Taxi Blog
Selling The Tree Of Life
Despite initial reports of boos and jeers from disconnected audience members at its apparent ‘disastrous’ press screening, The Tree of Life – Terence Malick’s decade-in-the-making philosophical epic was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday. With a Jury headed by Robert De Niro and consisting of unorthodox thesps Jude Law and Uma Thurman, with famed Hong Kong director Johnnie To (Election, Breaking News) to name a few – there was stiff competition to begin with.
Lars Von Trier dug his own grave when he spoke during his press conference for Melancholia, ruling out any chance of the top prize, however Kirsten Dunst did win Best Actress for her role in Trier’s apocalyptic drama. Others in contention were Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In , a revenge thriller marking Antonio Banderas’ return to Spanish language cinema, and the French silent film The Artist, which won a best actor award for Jean Dujardin.
Malick’s shy nature and avoidance of self-publicity meant he was not in attendance for the ceremony. The award instead being picked-up by producer Bill Pohland, going on to say, “I know he is thrilled with this award, as are all of us”.
Malick was described by Tree of Life lead, Brad Pitt at the films press conference, as a Builder of a house then expected to sell his work when completed; “He wants to focus on the making of it, not the real estate… (or) selling the real estate. It is an odd thing for an artists to start something and then be a salesman.”
This raises the question – Should filmmakers consider the marketing of their art when making it?
According to the guys at Bluetongue Films, responsible for such critically acclaimed features and shorts as The Square
Speaking at Popcorn Taxi’s Q&A for The Square, Joel Edgerton (who’s brother Nash was the writer/director of the film and also a stunt performer in Malick’s WWII drama The Thin Red Line) said of the issue, “Filmmakers should start thinking about how they’re going to sell their films while they’re making it and while they’re writing it.”
In an age where competitiveness in film making is enormous, this is a viable consideration for unknown writers and directors.
Malick’s notoriety and acute body of work, however, means that The Tree of Life shouldn’t have any problem putting bums on seats.
The Tree of Life is released wide June 30, and will also have two screenings at the Sydney Film Festival, June 14 & 15.
