By 2005, Malick was on a roll. He’d shot and released The New World, a pseudo-Pocahontas re-telling that was lauded for its sumptuous visuals, and his new film The Tree Of Life had been announced.

With Colin Farrell and Mel Gibson in talks to star, Indian production company Percept Picture Co would finance the film, which would be shot mostly in India. Then, as is often the way with Malick films, forward momentum ground to a crawling pace.

In October 2007, Sean Penn and Heath Ledger were mentioned as possible stars, replacing Farrell and Gibson. By December ’07, Brad Pitt was being talked about as a replacement for Ledger. Plot details were kept strictly under wraps.

Another 17 months later in May 2009, we finally got our first inkling that Tree Of Life could very well be the resurrected Q, as visual effects artist Mike Fink revealed he was working on prehistoric scenes for the film. At last, Tree Of Life was coming together...