Terrence Malick is such an enigmatic figure in Hollywood that most of the coverage surrounding "Knight of Cups" is basically just film journalists asking the movie's stars, "So what's this guy like?" Since Malick's debut feature, "Badlands," wowed at the New York Film Festival in 1973, the Oscar-nominated director has renounced interviews and upheld a somewhat erroneous reputation for being reclusive, even as "The Thin Red Line" and "The Tree of Life" found mainstream success. His supposed hermit life has become enough of a narrative that a video of Malick dancing at a country bar became a minor Internet sensation in 2012, when he was filming "Knight of Cups" and the still-unreleased "Weightless."
The Huffington Post hopped on the phone with first-time Malick collaborator Freida Pinto earlier this week. In "Cups," Pinto plays one of several women who float through the life of an adrift Los Angeles screenwriter named Rick (Christian Bale, who appeared in "The New World"). As was the case with 2012's "To the Wonder," Malick didn't provide the cast with a script. In fact, Pinto hardly knew what the movie was about before seeing the final cut. Why commit to such an amorphous experience? Because it's Terrence Malick, of course. And because Jessica Chastain said it was a good thing to do.
Many actors see working with Terrence Malick as a career milestone. Does your life feel different, having now made a Malick movie?
It definitely feels different. For any actor to have been part of a Terrence Malick film is a huge achievement, in many ways, and not just an achievement because he’s an amazing filmmaker and has been a legendary filmmaker since “Days of Heaven” and “Badlands,” but more so because you are given the opportunity to have this experience that only the actors who work on a Terrence Malick film can have.
You hear Jessica Chastain doing "The Tree of Life” promotions and talking about this experience and you go, “God, I want to experience that too.” And here I am, finally having had that experience, and I get it. I totally get it. It was one of those really liberating experiences that you almost can’t have on a film with a script. This is us going in absolutely unprepared and not knowing where we’re going to go, which can be daunting. But at the same time, just letting yourself be in that moment is very, very freeing and quite revealing of ourselves, as well, like, “This is how far I can really take myself.” And I’m surprised that I can actually say that and I’m surprised that I can actually do this. The word is “free.” I can’t think of any other word -- the word is “free.”
Since there's no script, what information were you given about the part before showing up?
No information whatsoever. The only thing that I had in hand was six pages of something that was written just as a reference. It had nothing to do with my character or what he wanted me to do on set.
And it was something Terrence wrote?
It was just something he wrote, like his stream-of-consciousness typed out. He uses a typewriter, so that makes it even better.
Of course he uses a typewriter. Was there a narrative in those six pages?
It was very philosophical. It was a lot of quotes form philosophers that I assume Terry really likes to read. There were a lot of Mother Teresa lines in there. It was just a guide. It was not in any way lines I had to repeat on set. Sometimes I did and it would be fine, and sometimes it didn’t make any sense. He would also say, “You can say this line or you can not say it if you don’t want to.” That kind of freedom is very rare. There couldn’t have been preparations on a film like this.
Does that mean you named the character too? She introduces herself as Helen.
No, that was the one thing that I did know, that the character was going to be called Helen. Terry gave me that name.
How long were you on set?
I think it was about a four- or five-day thing.
When you arrived, there must have been some sort of guidance about the scene you'd be shooting. Was it, "Okay, we're doing a party scene, action," or was it, "Just start talking and we'll figure it out"?
The first scene I shot was not the party scene, actually. I shot a scen