AUSTIN, TX: There are reclusive artists, and then there is Terrence Malick – a filmmaker who seldom grants interviews or comments publicly on his work, and rarely even allows his photograph to be taken. And for a good long while, he also didn’t direct, going nearly two decades between Days of Heaven and The Thin Blue Line, and then five and six years to The New World and The Tree of Life.
But these days, the dude is crankin’ ‘em out like goddamn Swanberg; he put out two films last year (three, if you count the two versions of Voyage of Time as separate pieces, and there’s a case to do so), has Radegund in the can, and premiered Song to Song as last night’s SXSW Film Festival opener. And as part of a hastily-arranged last-minute conference talk with Richard Linklater and Song star Michael Fassbender, Terrence Malick showed up this morning and talked about making movies, like any ol’ non-recluse filmmaker.
And they didn’t even take our cameras away, so here are some photos of Terrence Malick. Consider this an entertainment journalism public service; maybe they’ll make their way onto Google Images and we won’t just see that same damn beard-and-cowboy-hat one every time someone writes an article about him:
Photo credits: Jason Bailey / Flavorwire