Mark Rylance Jokes He Did “90 Minute Takes” On Terrence Malick’s ‘Last Planet’ Which Now Has A Composer

What’s going on with Terrence Malick’s “The Last Planet” movie about Jesus? Well, not much publicly anyhow. As usual, most of it is under the radar, but a new sign suggests it’s entering the post-production stages and perhaps inching towards completion (though with Malick, you never know). 

Film Soundtrack Reporter says Greek composer Eleni Karaindrou has written the original score for the upcoming drama. She is known for writing the score to Theodoros Angelopoulos’ 1995 Grand Jury Prize Cannes winner “Ulysses’ Gaze” and some of her existing music was used in both “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and Malick’s own “Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey” (the longer version with Cate Blanchett narration that never came out theatrically beyond film festivals).

READ MORE: ‘The Last Planet’ First Look: Terrence Malick’s Upcoming Film Described As Biblical Story With A “Dark Genre Twist”

It’s been pretty much quiet on the ‘Last Planet’ front, although One Big Soul, the Malick Facebook fan site refers to it as the film formerly known as ‘Last Planet,’ so perhaps a title change is coming soon. Recently Mark Rylance, who plays Satan in the film, talked and joked about working on the film.  “I’d come from working with Terrence Malick [on the upcoming The Last Planet], so that’s a 90-minute take [laughs],” he told Third Coast Review. “During the take, you’ll hear the cameraman say ‘Someone help me, please take the camera,’ and someone else takes the camera, and Terrence says, “Carry on. Don’t worry about that.”

READ MORE: Aidan Turner Is An Apostle In Terrence Malick’s Biblical Film As More Cast & Roles Are Revealed

Sounds like a typical, just-keep-rolling Terrence Malick film (and yes, it was shot digitally). “The Last Planet,” at least, as it’s known as now stars “Son of Saul” actor Geza Rohrig as Jesus Christ, Matthias Schoenaerts as Apostle Peter, and Mark Rylance as the aforementioned Satan, though it might be four versions of Satan.

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Rylance told the Guardian last year, “Terry wrote four versions of the character of Satan and I thought I would play only one. But I heard I was going to play all four. One of them must have been a woman at some point, but it was when he asked me to grow a beard that I realized I wasn’t going to do it that way.”

READ MORE: Terrence Malick Reportedly Shooting Next Movie, ‘The Last Planet,’ About The Life Of Christ

One of the producers on the film told Variety last year, the film would be a “highly spiritual experience” that puts a “dark genre twist” on the biblical story.

READ MORE: Mark Rylance, Joseph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts & More Reportedly Join Terrence Malick’s Upcoming ‘The Last Planet’

The film, which tells the story of Christ’s life through a series of parables, features a big international cast that also stars Aidan Turner, Joseph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Douglas Booth, Martin McCann, Tawfeek Barhom, Ori Pfeffer, Shadi Mar’i, Makram Khoury, Numan Acar, and Emilio De Marchi.

Last year, Malick described the film as. “a multicultural film with a cast that brings together Middle Eastern actors, a German troupe, and even Italian artists in the costumes department and set design,” when speaking to  La Repubblica. “It will take at least a year because we have a lot of material, and since we go digital, we end up with many more images.”

“The Last Planet” is expected to premiere in 2021, presumably at some film festival, but Malick editing periods are notoriously long, so it won’t surprise if it’s much later in the year or even 2022.