Every movie star that was cut from Terrence Malick’s ‘The Thin Red Line’
The battle of 1998’s World War II epics hailing from celebrated auteurs could only end with one winner being declared, and it wasn’t Terrence Malick‘s The Thin Red Line. Part of that was due to the fact the other was Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, although the brains behind the former taking so long to settle on his final cut also played a part.
After gaining a reputation for being one of the ‘New Hollywood’ movement’s leading lights through his first two features Badlands and Days of Heaven, Malick promptly vacated for two decades before making his long-awaited and hotly-anticipated return to cinema. When he did, it was unfortunate that he fell victim to the twin films phenomenon.
Even more unfortunate was The Thin Red Line releasing five months after Saving Private Ryan, which did it no favours whatsoever. They’re completely different movies at the end of the day, but it was nonetheless easy to make comparisons between a pair of immersive and authentic war stories being told by two prominent filmmakers who first emerged during the 1970s emerging within such close proximity to each other.
In typical Malick fashion, The Thin Red Line didn’t come together seamlessly in the editing room. The first cut reportedly took seven months to piece together and extended for five hours, forcing the director to gradually whittle it down to the 171-minute epic that hit cinemas in December 1998. As the lead character in both James Jones’ source novel and its first big screen adaptation in 1964, Adrien Brody operated under the assumption that his Geoffrey Fife would be the focal point.
He maintained that position until fairly close to release, too, until he discovered that Malick had significantly reduced his contributions. Jim Caviezel’s Robert E. Lee Witt was now the erstwhile protagonist, while major stars like George Clooney barely got more than a cameo. At least they made it into The Thin Red Line, though, which can’t be said of everyone who took part.
Mickey Rourke shot scenes as a scout sniper that didn’t make it into the theatrical cut but were at least restored for the Criterion edition, but Bill Pullman has only ever been glimpsed in promotional stills despite signing on and working with the cast and crew. The exact same can be said of Lukas Haas, while Billy Bob Thornton recorded hours of narration that didn’t end up getting used. Spare a thought for poor Gary Oldman, too, who’d been written into the script by Malick, only for his part to be removed before he’d gotten the chance to film it.
Martin Sheen and Viggo Mortensen were never officially part of the on-camera process, but they did get thanked in the credits after taking part in early readthroughs before Malick had settled on his ensemble. It was an unwieldy beast, but as time goes on The Thin Red Line is gradually earning the appreciation it deserved the first time around.
