"The Tree of Life," the long-delayed Terrence Malick movie rumored to be a possible entry at many of the major film festivals over the last year, will finally make its debut at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, according to a report in Variety.
The film's presence on the Croisette this May would surprise few festival-watchers, who have speculated about Cannes as a likely landing spot for "The Tree of Life" since Fox Searchlight acquired the film and announced a May 27 release date.
The drama stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, and tells a coming-of-age story set in the 1950s. (It may, however, also include dinosaurs.) The film was originally scheduled to be released (and rumored to be debuting at Cannes) in 2010 by Apparition, which underwent a dramatic restructuring and eventual closure after the departure of co-founder Bob Berney.
A couple of months after picking up the film in September, Searchlight premiered a well-received trailer for the film.
Fox Searchlight said it could not confirm the story, and the Variety report did not cite a source for its contention that the film is "sure to be included" in the Cannes lineup. That lineup will be announced on April 14.
Malick's last film, "The New World," was released in 2005; before that, he hadn't directed a movie since 1998's "The Thin Red Line." Even before he finished "The Tree of Life," though, he began shooting another, as-yet-untitled love story featuring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem.
