Vision Quest: The Tree of Life & The Big Lie

On February 20th I sent emails to media outlets asking if they were interested in an exclusive interview I had had with Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Glass, regarding his work on The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick. The email stated that the studio “is more than willing to provide pictures as long as the feature appears after the movie comes out on May 27th.”

One of the media organizations expressing an interest in the piece was the UK film magazine and website Little White Lies; Adam Woodward the editor of the website in his email of February 21st stated, “Would be great to see the 1st draft when you have one.” With the approval of Dan Glass and his promise to secure the necessary pictures over the incoming weeks, I forwarded the completed article. My accompanying email stated, “Let me know if you are interested.”

A media outlet expressed a desire in buying the feature on March 8th via an email; I forwarded the request to the studio and waited to see how the negotiations would develop. Half an hour later my contact at the Hollywood studio called to inform me that Little White Lies had posted The Tree of Life: Vision Quest; the website had put my article online without my knowledge and permission and in complete disregard of all those associated with the film. My emails and phone call for Vision Quest to be pulled IMMEDIATELY went unanswered. It was not until the studio intervened that Little White Lies finally removed the piece, having allowed other sites time to pick it up.

Little White Lies declares that “If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that we have high standards here at LWLies.” I find the line rather disconcerting considering their so called “exclusive” article was posted without word or payment to its unsuspecting author.

With my permission and knowledge, Flickering Myth will be posting Vision Quest: The Making of The Tree of Life after May 27th in respect of the wishes of the studio.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.