Working with Terry has changed my life. I’m a different parent, I’m a different husband, and I’m a different friend. I see nature in a different way since I started working with Terry. I have much more respect for things that I wasn’t aware of as much. He is one of the most important teachers in my life. And I’m a much better cinematographer in helping directors in a much more comprehensive way.

Around 1980, on the salary from Paramount [from “Days of Heaven”], [Malick] began developing a script to be set in either Texas or Paris, with a drawn-out prologue reenacting the creation of the universe. This prologue soon consumed the rest of the film and began to take on “Star Wars” proportions. Malick consulted with an astrophysicist, then dispatched a crew to test light and lenses, record natural phenomena and dress lizards to look prehistoric. He seemed bent on topping himself, wandering close to lunacy to avoid repetition - or failure.