By the middle of 1979, Malick had forked out a small fortune in preparation to shoot the film. But Paramount were becoming irritable, finding themselves footing the bills for a film that was changing massively from one day to the next.

“It got to the point that whatever people wanted, he wouldn't give it to them,” special effects guru Taylor recalls. “Because he was expected to make a movie, he'd say, ‘I don't want to.’ One day he went to France, and that was it.”

Screenwriter pal Bill Witliff summed up Malick’s flying the coup succinctly: “I think the more applause he got, the more frightened he got.” Q was dead...