Confirmed: Extended Cut of Terrence Malick's To the Wonder; Rumors Suggest Longer Version of Song to Song.

      Terrence Malick’s elusive nature––more precisely, a figure who rushes towards us while viewed through a wide-angle lens––makes it easy to overlook various details. Consequently, I sometimes forget our report from August 2023, which was based on two fairly reliable sources, about a longer version of *To the Wonder*, similar to *The Tree of Life* or *The New World*, that might include footage from Eugene Edwards’ adjacent docufiction *Thy Kingdom Come*. (This is a great film in its own right and an essential companion that you can rent here.) When we first learned of this in 2019, it was considered a significant time commitment, and with the workflow later disrupted by COVID, it became unclear when (or if) this project would be completed.

      Now, we have a significant update thanks to Keith Fraase, one of the film's five credited editors, who revealed on the podcast *Writers on Film*, “I definitely know there’s a longer version of *To the Wonder* that they’ve been working on for a while.” While he admitted he doesn’t “particularly know what that would consist of,” he speculated about “abandoned storylines” such as “much more about Ben [Affleck’s] job.” Fraase also mentioned that, like many of Malick’s films, *To the Wonder* featured numerous actors who ended up on the cutting-room floor––notable names include Jessica Chastain, Michael Sheen, Rachel Weisz, Barry Pepper, and Amanda Peet––suggesting they could make an appearance, with this extended cut potentially reviving “many random storylines that didn’t seem relevant to the final narrative.”

      Equally intriguing is Fraase’s certainty that there’s also material for *Song to Song*. However, less (which really means: nothing) is known about what that might include, although the list of excised actors is even longer: Christian Bale, Benicio Del Toro, Haley Bennett, Trevante Rhodes, Boyd Holbrook, Angela Bettis, Fleet Foxes, Iron & Wine, and Arcade Fire. He brought up “story elements” that once existed in both films he edited, recalling that *Song to Song* had a previous version, *Weightless*, which was more than just an early title; I had heard some years ago that Malick had created a different, heavily reworked project. While I somewhat doubt they would simply polish that cut for release, it suggests that substantial ideas are already stored on a hard drive (perhaps in Texas). That being said, don’t expect the same treatment for *Knight of Cups*: Fraase claims that film “sort of has everything in it.”

      Regarding Terrence Malick’s post-production practices, I’ll take this opportunity to share a surprising rumor about *The Way of the Wind*: a source with strong ties to the project told me that Malick has had actors from earlier films undergo a crash course in film editing to try their hand at cutting together scenes. This may be a nostalgic and reflective experiment, given the director’s advanced age, while he works on what, according to long-time collaborator Jack Fisk, is “just the most important film to him.” How these contributions will manifest––or whether these sequences will even appear in the final cut––remains to be seen.

      Listen to Fraase’s interview on *The Malick Hour* below: