So I recently read the script for what seems to be a highly anticipated film, The Tree of Life, and I have to say... it was terrible.

It does everything that I've read a script should not do. It can't seem to decide if it wants to be a screenplay or a novel: there are long blocks of description that are literally impossible to film. For example:

"He must be strong. There will be time enough for tears. He grieves more for her than for himself -- that she should be stricken this way, a woman so faithful, kind and upright -- who through the whole of her life has denied herself -- who has loved the good -- given to the poor, comforted the desolate."

That's a block of description from the first page, and it only gets worse from there.

I don't know what Malick plans to do with this. From reading it, I just could not imagine it as an actual film. However, that being said, it's incredibly ambitious, and I must say that Brad Pitt has a hell a role on his hands.

Anyone interested in reading it can download it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?34bqy6pc24lg98t

Hee hee!

"Everything that I've read a script should not do"...

Unfortunately -- or perhaps fortunately! -- Terrence Malick, being Terrence Malick, is allowed to write absolutely whatever he wants.  I don't think he was ever one for having or following a perfectly tight script.

Those rules that you read are ones that Malick has earned himself the right to ignore.  At this point he's not writing the script for anyone else but himself...I wonder if some poor sucker has to create a production version!

What matters is...is the story terrible?

Thanks for the link.

Yeah, Heretic is right. Malick is in a position where he can write whatever he wants because his material is gonna go straight to actors as opposed to being put through the circuitous, roundabout spec way. Those rules you mention relate to spec scripts which Mallick doesn't need to bother with.

From the passage you quoted it seems as if he's writing directly for the actors and detailing what emotions he wants their characters to convey maybe through body language in the absence of dialogue. As you know, this type of direction in a spec screenplay is frowned upon but not in this case.

To the contrary, I'd imagine his method (again, based on your quoted passage) would be very useful for an actor as he/she can not only get an insight to their character's mindset and what they're about but also an idea of what the filmmaker is looking for in their performances.

As Heretic asked, is the script any good in terms of story & characters? That's what's most important...although Malick's films tend to lean more to the arty and visually breathtaking side of things then fully fleshed out narrative storytelling.