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Abscnceof Malick
Why, at the height of his talent, would a highly acclaimed director simply disappear? investigarive An biography BYDAVID HANDELMAN

Youknow, uh,JromwhatI knowof Tbrry, he particularlywant an articlcwitten wouldn't aboulhim, so,I, I probablywouldn't, uh, want to inaolue m7self. Sorryto be,I mzan, I lwpe1ou don'ttalcc ofmsc....I just know that- in gennal- he's . .goneawfully far to . sort oJ, uh, to stal auay Jrom all sortsoJ things. -Wallace Shawn ERRENcE MALICK HAs always gone awfully far to stay away from all sortsof things. After playing high school 'and football in Texis miking allconference, dropped sportsfor more he sober pursuits when he got to Harvard in 1961 He won a Rhodes scholarshio . to Oxford but didn't complete his graduatethesis.He landeda'plum assignment for the New Yorker but never finished it. He lectured in philosophy a1 MIT for a year but, feeling he "didn't have the sort of edge one sh-ould have on the students," he turned to filmmaking. What the hell. "I'd alwaysliked the movies in a kind of naive way," he said later. "They seemed no less improbable a career than anything else."So in 1969Malick went to film school and, barely three years later, managed to raise $300,000 to finance his first feature, the coolly ironic Badhnds. The story of how this rookie efort got made is a classic-perhaps tie classic-Hollywood myth. Not because Malick ran around for funding, not because the crew was nonunion, disjointed and working for slave pay, not even because the writer-director was only 29 and came out of nowhere, but becauseBadhnds, which was based on Charles Starkweathey's,1958 killing spree,is so good. Plenty ofcheapo hor-

DaaidHandclman wites ofunabout Holfijrst uood. This is his fieuJor California.

104 N o v E M B ER 1985

ror or sex movies are made under simi- of five years Malick had achieved the lar circumstances,often under the mis- total control every filmmaker covets. guided hope that the trash will turn a Predictable,becauseat the end of that profit, enabling everyone involved to time Malick, as he had with football, pursue his "art." Terry Malick used the journalism and teachingbefore, simply $300,000 to make his art. Vincent walked away from it all. Canby called. Badhnds 'hugely effecIn 1979Terry Malick disappeared. tive," "always ferociously American,' "He's the ultimate phantom,o says and the film's moody vistas, averted Bnnl Hills Copcoproducer Don Simpglancesand deadpannarration quickly son, who was Paramount'svice presimade it a cult hit. dent of production during Da2s of It took Malick five years to Droduce Hcaam. "Last I heard, he was in some a successor, but 1978'sDaTsof Heaocn, garret in Francewith no electricity and about a trio of drifters lost among the no phone. There are so many rumors wheat fields of 1916 Texas. won him about him*it's like Ken Kesey's fake Best Director at Cannes and even suicide.In fact, I wouldn'tbe surprised wider acclaim. Newsweek describedthe if he were dead." frlm as "hauntingly beautiful...unWell, not quite. In 1983 Malick did ashamedly poetic, brimming with repay Harvard for a twenty-year-old sweetness and bitterness,darknessand loin, and early in 1984 he ieportedly light," and normally cautious Varicty showed up at a friend's wedding. But called it "one of the qreat cinematic what he's been living on, and whether achievements of the- last decade." he'sworking on movies, remains shadClearly, Malick had become someone owy. In 1983 VanityFarr reported that to watch. Paramount was paying him a yearly reBut asi.de from curious cameos in tainer and had yet to seea script. But a both his films - he played an architect uiually garrulous Paramount executive in Bolhnds, a farmer in Days of gets cagey on the subject. uWe have an Hcaom-Malick has maintained abso- understanding, that's all. He's indepenlutely no public profile. He hasn't even dently wealthy-oil money. There's no granted Ern on-the-record interview story." Except that Malick's friends since 1974. Says Brooke Adams, who contradict this claim. *Ierry's dad did made her screen debut in Days of work for Phillips Petroleum," says one, Heaom: "It takes him a lot of energy to "but they weren't rich. Terry just lives explain himself.'In fact, after Badhnds, austerely.' Malick was so drained by the experiEven Malick's reason fior leaving is ence he swore he'd never direct again. disputed. Martin Sheen, who starred saysMalick withdrew from "On the set",it seemslike the sky's the in Badlands, limit," he said in one of his last'inter- Hollywood because"he felt he couldn't views, Sut it usually comes out as ruD(- grow here. There are too many distraciery becausewhen you seewhat you've tions. Too many dead-end streets.oYet done you're aware of what you could Orion executive vice president Mike do if you knew how. The hardest thing Medavoy, Malick's first agent, says, uI to accept is that it leavesyour control so don't think Terry's encounter with Holquickly." An ironic but predictable statement, Tlu autzuras dropout: on tlu Badlands set to be sure. Ironic, becausein the space with Martin Slun

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lywood was negative.He went through took off at the end of his junior. year, chris, an oil speculator, and together a deeper philosophical questioning. traveled to Germany, met Heidegger they raised $soo,ooo.' Badtan& exSooneror later, he'll pop up, and they'll and translatedhis Essence Reason."" ..uiiu. producer paut witti.*, of ...ulr, come out of the woodwork for him.n and Phi Beta Kappa, 'It was the one time in Holywood thai - -Straight-A Pu, will they? Screenwriter Jacob Malick graduated in 1966 and, paitly you could get financing for 'difficult' Brar kman, who went to Harvard with to avoid the draft, pursued and was projects.o Alienation films were bis. Malit:k and was executiveproducerof awarded a Rhodes scholarship. But he th.anks to Easy Rider and, Fiue Edy Dg2s of Heaaen, says, "Some people in hated Oxford and said talking to the Picces. Hollywood think Terry makes'esoteric' British "was like trying to talk underMalick shot his first feature in pic t ur es , h i c h i s a b i g ' u h -o h .' " w water." A rift with his thesis adviser eastern colorado between August and Out of touch with people for years, developed_which made.it impossible_tooctober of r972. He reporteily gave Malick still inspires a dome of silence complete his p_hilosophydegree. He investors no g'uaranteeof comple"tion that is Mafra-loyal, as if investigating then turned to Latin American studies or distributioi, paid himself no'salary his whereabouts mieht shatter somi instead and bought some paperbacks and his actors and crew not much fragile, cherishedobjet d'art. Adams, on cinematog.raphy. He.was in his early more. The costumer, mechanic and Sheen, Medavoy and Brackman are nventies,and he was decidedly.unde- Malick himself all enjed up acting in among the only Malick associates who cided about what he wanted to do. the film. will consentto discuss him. More com- . (During.a spring.breakfrom Oxford, As not only director but producer, mon is the reaction of producer Bert he traveled P..91?i-".u,ith two friends, Malick suddenly found himseif dealing Schneider:"Malick's a great man and a one of them Bill weld, now the u.S. at- with insurance costs, auto maintegreat director. I'm sorry he isn't mak- torney for-the District of Massachusetts. nance, unionizers, ,hotgr..r-*ielding ing films. That's all I have to say."The crammed into a tiny Fiat, drivingend- landowners and a mutino-uscrew. Hii same response comes from Days of lessmiles, the three were unable to de- first cinematographer, Brian probyn, Heauen star Richard Gere. Diinevis cide even what hotel to check into. ult wouldn't shooi what Malick wanr;d; Michael Eisner, Harvard professor wasn't a question of conflicting wills," claiming the scenes wouldn't cut to*kobyn's Stanley Cavell and Malick's'ex-wife, wrld says now. "There was no will at gether. assistant, Thk Fujibrother and agent. Badlands costar all."), moto, then iook over, but also le'ft. ., _ SissySpacek,on the other hand, addsa While at Oxford, Malick had been Some equipmenr was damaged by the cautious condition: "I iust want to w-orking. weekends as a string.er for fi.lm's firt sequence.when-a special-sufiered checkthis with Terry first. Do you know Neutsweells London bureau. when he effects man severe 6.rnr, where I can get in touch with him?" finally decided . to leave _s.9hoof he Malick, unable to asord a helicopter, To learn what became of Terrence managed_toland a spot in Lt'lsMiami sent him to the distant hospital by-car, Malick depends on finding out first bureau. But he soon left and knocked andmanycrewmembersquitinprotest. where he came from. Like his protago- around Bolivia, supposedly profiling For the last two weeks-of the shoot, nists, MaIick drifted into situations Rdgis Debray for the New Yorker.In the entire crew consisted of the direcwhich stirred him into action. He was 1968his academicbackground got him tor, the directorrswife and a locat hieh born on November 30, 1943, in Ot- a lecturing position at MIT. There, he schoolstudent. Then Malick .u.n out-of tawa, Illinois, and grew up in Waco, mustered $1,100, made a movie and money while editing and had to take a Texas, which he latir said'was full oi was accepted to the first-ever class of rewrite job to finish his movie. when snake handlers and hard-shelled Bao- the American Film Institute. Later, he shown to the New York Film Festival tists. His parentsmoved to Bartlesville, married Jill Jakes, an assisrantof Ar- selectionboard months later, the print Oklahoma, where his father helped thur Penn, who eventually became an broke, the sound was muddy, the picdevelopa food substitutemade of yeast ACLU lawyer, and the two lived for ture was out of focus. yei Badlands for Phillips Petroleum. Malick at- r.^ugl-?l ygars in the Los Angeles home landed the prestigious closing-night 1e1de! Saint Stephen's Episcopal of Jill's friend, George Segal, before slot and drew raves. Warnefi piia Schoolin Austin and spent his'teenige moving into a ranch house in Nichols $950,000for the distribution righti. summers "in solitary," working on dil Canyon.above Hollywood. Malick soon becamea celebriiy (prowells, driving a cement *Ler ot Malick wrote and'directed one short filed in Esquire alongsidespielbelg'and following the wheat harvest north. He at AFI, and Mike Medavoy promptly Lucas), which on"ly intensifieJ his would sleepon Greyhound busesor in g9t-hiT rewrite jobs: two days onJack Texas'reticence. Ai an AFI benefit fields and toil alongside vagrants, ex- Nicholson's Diae, He sald, five weeks screening of Badhnd.s,confronted with cons and dreamers. yn DirtT Harry when it was M-arlon the possibility of making a speech, he Arriving at Harvard in 1961 sur- Brando's. qrojecl.,He al-so completely turnid to Bili weld and"confiied, ;If I very 1og1d9d by overachievers, he 'felt othat rewoted.Poc,tal Monqt, a box-ofrce flop even have to say one word, I'm gonna behind," according to Brackman, with Paul Newman and Lee Marvin. die." He tord i reporter,'"Frori this he'd never even read Winnic tlu Pooh, lnf4i"k was. making I Sgoa living point on, I'm being watched. That and had to catch up." He studied in- without working too hard, and hii iould trip me up.' ilir bri"f stint as tensely-not course work, but his own repqtatiol was growing. underdog was ovir. idea of liberal arts. His keen mind and Then he wrote DeadhcadMihs. The He bJgan playing the Hollywood oroad' film- was broad humor (he often mimicked the 1971would-be so awful game, beiig seenat th"e requisite parties. 'dumb Okies" he'd grown up around) Paramount never released it-not even He told Wela that his -view -of the attracted loyal friends, and they would to cable. Directed with no senseof con- goings-on coincided with Brackman's spend their time sitting around the tinuity, action .or comedic timing by l-ine ibout Atlantic city in Tlu King of Adams House dining hall discussing one vernon Zimmerman, it inexpli- - Maruin Gardms:"I love-it. All the h-ujWittgenstein and Heidegger over cably stars New Yorkish,Alan Arkin as tling is out in the opn." But even with countless cups of cofee, Still, while a dim-witted Texas trucker. his igility in bankrolling his first film, Malick enjoyed this artsy bohemian Unable to stomach the mess made of Mali;k wasn,t the husfiing type. Hi enclave, he disliked Harvards authori- his screenplay, Malick 'decided he didn't like to talk about irovies and tarian, cobwebbedatmosphere. He read would have to direct his own stuf, and deal memos. His next project got of lots of trash, ate lots of Mexican food, with that intention he began writing the ground only becauie oi thJ s[ckracked up many pool games. He also Badlands. He recruited his brother (continwdon pagcI2Z)
f06 N o v E M B ER 1985

Malick
(contintud Jrompagc 106) ness of producers Bert and Harold Schneider, whose track record with low-budget hits induced Paramount to entnrst Malick with 92.5 million. Malick watched Day of Heaoen literally move out of his iontrbl. As the production dare kept being pushed back, the location shifted n6rth with the harvest from Texas until it ended gp_in kthbridge, Canada, in August 1976. The director had wanted John tavolta and Geneviirye Bujold tdplay his wayfaringfield hands,but tavolta h a d T V commi tments and B ui ol d proved too demanding. The week before shootingstarted, Malick, who with the whole uncomfortable seemed process auditions,finally castRichard of Gere, Sam Shepard,BrookeAdams and streeturchin Linda Manz: four leads who basically had never beenin a movie before- Manz couldn'tevenread-and who didn't fit what waswritten. So despite budgetnearly ten times a that of Badlan&,the backing of a major of studio and the services Truffaut's acNestor Alclaimed cinematographer, mendros,Malick was running blind. every last His nervous desireto oversee detail made him openly critical of cast and cre\\'. "At one point,n Brooke Adams recalls, 'I told hinl, 'If you'd just trust us a little more, we'rea.llreally ready to have a great t.ime.'He said, 'Brooke,if we havea greattime on this, i t' l l be a medi ocrefi l m.' n " D uri ng the producti on , " Jacob Brackman recalls, "we realized we weren't going to get the picture we thoueht. An enormousamount of footage began to pile up. The decisionwas made to go broad-more Tolstoy, less Dostoyevski,a big canvasin which the peopleget smallerand the performances become less important.' High-priced L.A. actorswere flown in to improvise

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background scenes. Harold Schneider understandably balked, reportedlv telling Malick, "^l-hisisn't in the script-if the principals don't work out, we don't have a picturr' " As it turned out, nearly all these subsrrliary characters were left on the cutting-room floor. So Dals of Heauen, which Variay would later describe as "planned long ago," was actually a precarious venture tliat Malick had to salvageby doctoring his script on location and in the editing room. He developed something the actors jokingly called "la Mdthode de Maleek," sending them out in the wheat and shouting directions: "Look up, look behind you, look confused, iook hurt. . . ." "It wasn't malicious at all," says Adams. 'lJust that the night before , he'd get a great idea." Many might quibble with such tact ics, b ut Ma lick's vis ion was gener at ing phenomenal footage. He sent some wordless, strung-together scenes to Paramount and got them to raise the budget to $3.2 million. But did he have a story, or just pretty pictures? He had originally written a iragedy that was redeemed bY the voung eirl discovering true love. But -too young and iv{anz looked Li"ai acted too butch for this theme, forcing Malick to modify his ending: instead, Manz wanders off into the horizon with a female companion, saying, "She didn't know where she was gonna go, or what she was gonna do." Returning to Hollywood with miles of elliptical footage, Malick must have felt the sam e . Amid the uncertainty, he holed uP in editing rooms and spent six months creating a stereo mix, a rich sound track that complemented the film's remarkable visual style-its framing, lighting and movement. Finally, after months of indecision, Malick fell back on Manz's voice-overs to link the loose scenes, despite the fact that another adolescent girl's narration would invite instant comparison to Badhnds. Critical reaction to Dqs of Heattm was divided. While some exPressed outrage at its detached, diffuse style, others" declared that even if Malick never directed again, his name would endure. Yet no one could tell whether

the film's quirkiness, biblical references and parallels between human and natural phenomena were intentional or met" o.t-lo.ation by-product, because Malick wouldn't talk. The few times interviewers reached him, he scoffed at the mention of "influences" and dismissed any suggestion of a g ryat svnthesis of sight and sound. For whom his friends call hysteriUai.t. cally funny, the frlming of DaY oJ Hcpcn proved to be a terribly unfunny time. Ii[ Iakes had filed divorce paPers' ana Mdiit began getting heavier, his

been quietly pursuing the work of the new beard grai-er. opened, people spirit for years. We became like After DaltsoJ Heauen began treating Malick like a star. "I brothers." Yet not once in their three always wanted to be a criminal, I months toeetherdid Malick mention a guess,nKit Carruthers explained in movie project."I'd ask him what he was "Just not this big a one." Pro- working on; he'd say,'Oh, this or that,' Badlands. ducers offered Malick large fees to di- brush it off with a laugh, a story or a rect other writers' scripts, completely joke, and {hat was the end of it." In contrast to Brooke Adams, who wherehis talentslay. "Terry misreading couldn't make a Kojak," one colleague hasn't seen Malick since DaTsof Heaaen says. "He said as much himself. On w rapped,and.facob B rackman,whom ;'d.opped" for the past few he'd lilmed the entire Vtaiiit Davs of Heauen -and get told, He vears. Sheen claims that he coryet it didn't story, covered up directorial lapses with resoondswith Malick and visits him. voice-overs.But he turned his vices Where? "He's not in California. He's in into virtues. It's somethingscaryif you somewhere the U. S. working on sevbut he's very protecget away with it-you feel fraudulent, eral screenplays, people are callinq you a genius. You tive about it." One rumor says that some Harvard .u.ri n...rrurilv Juplicateit." film faculty recently read a Malick So Terry Malick went AWOL. told one rePorterhe script, thought it brilliant, but learned He supposedly was going to buy aJeep and headup to that Hollywood had rejectedit. HowMalibu to escapethe smog; another ever, Malick's mentor, Professor .lNe that it was "time to move and start a Stanley Cavell, quietly demurs: want to say anything that might whole new chapter." His interest don't editor Billy piqued by The Snow LeoPard,Malick upsetTerry." Daysof Heaurn look off for the caves and shrines of !V.b.. says Malick "definitely will Schneider's make more movies.It'sjust that it takes Nepal with Bert Schneider, aspiring hi m a l ong ti me." secretary, wife and Schneider's But it may not be as simPle as that. Gleason.Always susdirector Michie ceptible to quixotic bursts of fascina- Reverend Jim Tucker, who taught tion, Malick now sought the spiritual Malick in hieh school and still sees him, says, "Terry is deeply thoughtful, life of India. inspiredhim philosophically very inquiring, and Which, as it happened, to start work on another film. Around won't aicept easyor pat answers'This 1980, on the salary from Paramount, makes life troubling for him, you see. he began developing a script to be set He can't take things superficially." Malick's friends and colleaguesare in either Texas or Paris, with a drawnthe creationof protecting more than a troubled soul, out prologuereenacting the universe.This prologue soon con- ihough. In his absence, Malick has sumed the rest of the film and began to come to represent an ideal of mythic take on Star Warsproportions. Malick proportions.Jack Fisk, art director on consultedwith an asrophysicist,then both of Malick's films, says, "The dispatcheda crew to test light and whole mysterv is something I love. I lenses,record natural phenomena and love wantins to know about him. It's dress lizards to look prehistoric. He kind of woiderful. How can a guv seemedbent on topping himself, wan- make two such wonderful films and dering close to lunacy to avoid repeti- disappearin this day and age?When everyone else is hungry to get his piction - or failure. No one can pin down exactlYwhat ture in a magazine?Terry seemsto be happened next. Former Paramount an old-time artist." I, too, began cherishing Malick's prisident David Picker says, 'All I had devel- mystery and had trouble finishing this heard was that the studio sat around for months. Then oped another Malick Project they ".ii"I..'It new rumors: that Malick was I heard diant tite or thought too expensive.' the Chris Matick disassembled produc- in Nova Scotia and/or that he was dotion office, and not even Terry's ghost ing anonymous script doctoring to earn remained in Hollywood. Malick setded a liti.rg.'J halfheartedly called my re-_ in Paris, helping Michie Gleason with mainin? contactsto try to verify any of her film BroEen English, reading this. One person said, "I think the best voraciously and touring the homes of thing would be for You to ask TerrY legendary writers. His. hiatus from film, himJelf. Hold on, let me see if I have stange yet unsurprising to 1!r9s9ryho his number around.' Before I knew it, I was dialing a know him, extended itself until it had to be considereda permanent detachment' Texas phone number' A child anAfter years of not seeing Malic.\' swered.- Is Mr. Malick home? "Yes, Martin Sheen sought him out while hold on one second."Malick got on the . makins a movie in Paris in 1981 Sheen line. speakine soft and slow. I exhad iuit eone back to Catholicism after plained who I was and askedwhat he'd a .euelatiry trip to India but found that b.en up to. There was a long, long "Terrv wai *av ahead of me. He had silence.
C el rroR N IA MA GA zIN E 129

I tolcl hirn w.hara l'an I was, and . then h(' \ropprd and askcd if *;; ;eJ",. inr ,rfl'thc record. I said, whlte;;;;: \^,iirrted. the rest cannor U" So ,.po.i"al btr r 1ls;s'5 not much to report: ten r nir r u t e so f a b o r t i v e , . n t . n . . r , in he realilrrned his discomfor, " hich f, ,iul[lng. r o s r r a n g e r s .A l l h e 'd s a v "i about the v ano u s r u m o r s w a s t h a t I could rell what , w a s s i l l v a n d w h a r w a s n , r . He as x c o , \ 1 h ) l w a s d o i n e t h e article; I I (l:uCht. u mighr improve his : a' y c.acher-. wasn t berng more communicative, and t r ulv c o n c e r n e d r h a t I m i e h t p u b l j s h his r t h e r e a b o u t s .A f t e r , t . p " r r i , *. . * m or e p r o r m c r e d . I t h a n k e d h i m and s aid e o o d b r . c .

wanr ,,ll;''lol;,1',,:n' I don't l"tu""

He iaid he wisnt f.!ilrg i.. that.,He seemed rruly sorry tha"the

lvlalrcti has apparentlv reVerted to a s r m r lar l r '. n e i l s r a r e . b r j n q i n e his Jou.rlgl' liorn Texas ro the Irv L"."er. to Hollvrood fuli circlc. H. Martin Sheenof his deeputl".tion io. ";;-;iJ
m lm lcke d.

_ lVlalickonce said thar he,d wrirten Badlands about an ua,rt.r*.,t - ' ni.i because "nanted ,n rt-,"url t ina".ri he u o p e n ness, vul nerabi l i tvrhat a di sappears .later when you ger a litile savvrer.- rhe hearro f Diy, of H*,)r' Ar to o . i s Li nda \l anz' s nn.i de-i rei rni _ urri lation of rhe worjd'sspectacle , h.. ;;ii_ ro so wherer.e fatc leads. r l1gl..:, ,

the "simple eood people;he hud . onc"

he has slimmi';ffi; secmshappier and has recenrtyb.gun serlousscrrptwork, but a new Matick ntm may be as unlikejy as a new Sal_ rnger novel. . . Whatever becameof Terrence Mal_ ick? Bill Weld tells a srory rhat mav provide the best answer. In the mid'_ seventies, Weld r,,,as living on Lone Island, about 60 miles froir Mun-t# tan. M_alick and his wife were in N;; Yrrk City, so Weld invited th;n 1; clnve our and visit. Malick cailed and l?id, "l can't lace coming ouf i; ;;; kind of traffic. If you *.?r;ir;;;i away at 70 miles an hour the whole way, okay- But one-and-a-half hours in traflit -I just can'tdo it." ;
130 No vEMB E R t9g5

has swen.ed ofl the pavement f or r he p r a i r i c s C a u g h t , p i ; . ; ; ; ; _ plcase,rs and par melodramas called ar r . Dcc a u s e t h e v d o n . t c o n t a i n car c r as hc s .H o l l v n o o d i s r u n n i n g . f , " i , I n\ c nt t \ e - t l r m p e r f e c t_ v i s i o n a r i e " r r s. , "o:o flrckennq mornent. it seemed thar lern' lrlalick would fill that bill. onlr. (wo films under his belt, I^ulwrrh ne now,seems trapped between detractanarics, unsur of his.footing. i""i::j: Friends say

lions. dollars." that's of If *tu, Hoiiily:g,i : erpecring, no u,ond..if,u, ir's .vrancli

Don Simpson predicts rhat ^, r alr c xs n r v 11o9" . . re x r m o v i e , w i l . l p r o b a b l v take ten !.ears, win an Oscar and make mil_

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