After Days of Heaven (1978), it was a full 20 years before he directed his next film, The Thin Red Line (1998).
Appeared as unannounced guest on the screening of Badlands (1973) in the retrospective section of the 54th. Berlin film festival 2004.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 636-639. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.
He grew up on a farm and worked as a farmhand before studying philosophy at Harvard. After graduating he went to Magdalen College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar but left before finishing his thesis (on Martin Heidegger) after a disagreement with his advisor. He moved back to the United States and taught philosophy at MIT while freelancing as a journalist.
He taught in France from 1979-1994.
He was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in March 2002 in Austin, Texas.
His grandfather was an Assyrian Christian immigrant to the US from the village of Goghtapa, near Urmia, in Northwest Iran.
In his contract for directing The Thin Red Line (1998), he stated that no current pictures of him could be published or shown anywhere.
MFA from the American Film Institute
Notoriously withdrawn from public life, his friends, such as Martin Sheen, have always remarked that he is a very warm and humble man who prefers to work without media intrusion.
Phi Beta Kappa student
Resides in Austin, Texas.
Terrence Malick is step-father to actor, producer, and director, Will Wallace.
Turned down an offer to direct The Elephant Man (1980).
Went to St. Stephen's high school in Austin, Texas, where he played football.
Wrote a treatment for Dirty Harry (1971) but none of his work appears in the final version.
Wrote an unused draft of Great Balls Of Fire!