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Rachel Weisz, and Others, Likely Cut from Malick's 'To the Wonder'

by Alex Billington
August 28, 2012
Source: The Film Stage

It seems odd to report on what is not only non-casting, but non-appearance news, too. Then again, I guess it is hard to say they were cast to begin with since Terrence Malick keeps such a tight lid on all of his projects (casting on his next film Knight of Cups was discovered by observing them filming). Finally making its debut at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival is his other new film titled To the Wonder, shot early last year in Oklahoma, starring Rachel McAdams and Ben Affleck. We've heard bits over the years about it, who else is in it, but now that it's finally edited and ready, some big actors have apparently been cut out entirely.

A plot update for Malick's To the Wonder first arrived late last year. It describes the story, essentially, as an international love triangle: "A philanderer (Affleck) who, feeling at loose ends, travels to Paris, where he enters a hot-and-heavy affair with a European woman (Olga Kurylenko). [He] returns home to Oklahoma, where he marries the European woman (in part for visa reasons). When the relationship founders, he rekindles a romance with a hometown girl (McAdams) with whom he's had a long history." At the time, the cast also had Rachel Weisz and Barry Pepper. However, with editing finished and cast lists updated, Weisz and Pepper seem to be gone entirely. A recent interview with Weisz confirms that she's definitely out.

Our friends at The Film Stage caught wind of the quote, which was in an Italian interview on La Stampa with the Academy Award winning actress. It's there where she said, translated, that she is not in it anymore.

Rachel Weisz, who only spent a few days on the set, confirmed with the Italian outlet La Stampa that "it seems that [her] part has been cut." She adds, "I had the experience of working with him [Malick] but I will not have the pleasure of seeing my work."

Interesting, very interesting. Considering we don't know too much about this and what exactly her role was, it's hard to say whether this is good or bad. Both the TIFF page and IMDb listing are updated with fewer names. Originally, the film included Michael Sheen, Amanda Peet, Barry Pepper, and Tree of Life star Jessica Chastain, but all of them have been removed. It's exciting going in to see a Malick film nowadays not knowing what we'll be getting, but The Playlist reminds us To the Wonder has been called "even more experimental than Tree of Life." Say what? It can't be! How? I guess we'll find out in a few weeks in Toronto.

For now, the TIFF listing clearly focuses on these four: "Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem and Olga Kurylenko star in the new film from Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), about a man who reconnects with a woman from his hometown after his marriage to a European woman falls apart." Indeed, that sounds like the same exact story details we mentioned above. We'll be on the lookout for this at the upcoming fests, and will report back with our early feedback. Anyone curious to see what Malick has up his sleeve?

Filed under Casting, Indies, Movie News

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