ComingSoon reports that Heath Ledger and Sean Penn are in talks to star in New World director Terrence Malick's project, Tree of Life. New World ranked high last year with the Faith & Film Critics Circle, with a great review given it by Jeffrey Overstreet at Christianity Today. I can't find much on the plot of Tree of Life (a very God-talking title), though MovieWeb reports it is being described as a "complex family drama" and I did find this tidbit from 2006 Gonzopia.com article:In the 70's, while working on Days Of Heaven, Malick came up with a project he simply called 'Q'. It was a story that involved some soldiers in World War I, with a prehistoric prologue that centered on the beginnings of mankind. Later, after Malick sent somebody to scout locations, he decided to ditch the whole "war" part of the story and focus on the "prehistoric".Looks like it is worth keeping an eye on.
That film now has a working title, "Tree Of Life". It also has a couple of names attached to it - Mel Gibson and Colin Farrell. The plot is very secret, but it seems to focus on the beginnings of mankind and our evolution.
According to IMDb Pro, "Tree Of Life" also has a $145 million budget, which is large by any director's standards, let alone for Malick.
Update: Dang, doesn't Peter Chattaway sleep?! He had a post up on this one at 12:31 a.m. this morning.