If the Oscars get one thing right, it looks like it’ll be awarding Emmanuel Lubezki’s breathtaking cinematography for Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life. He took home top honors at the 26th Annual American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement Awards last night, picking up from Wally Pfister‘s Inception win last year. Lubezki, who last won for Children of Men, currently has the next from Alfonso Cuaron set for November release (Gravity, our #1 most-anticipated film of the year), as well as Malick’s next three films.
Lubezki also recently sat down with Thompson on Hollywood and aside from unveiling a featurette, revealed a few tidbits about The Tree of Life. We heard about a possible six-hour cut before, but the cinematographer further hinted at the wealth of unseen footage, saying, “There were amazing things: much more of the children and Jessica [Chastain] and Brad [Pitt]. And you could almost make a whole other movie about Sean [Penn]. There’s another side to his story. It’s almost unexplored in the film.”
We’ve all heard Penn’s distaste for the final product, so I do wonder what is still behind the curtains. An expanded Penn story is news to me, as I’ve mostly only heard of heavily cut down middle portion of the film. I’d have to imagine the story with his wife in the beginning is fleshed out a bit, along with some of the final moments of the film. Let’s hope we get to see it someday. In the meantime, check out the aforementioned featurette below.