Watchers of Terrence Malick, the most media-averse film auteur of all time, know that fluid moving footage has never been captured of Malick working on a set…never. So this 3-minute video sequence, captured yesterday by Johnny Garcia, of Malick and Christian Bale shooting a tracking shot of Bale roaming around an outdoor concert for some mystery project is historic.

Garcia even caught Bale and Malick turning in his general direction and smiling. Really amazing. This is almost as exciting as foootage of a Himalayan Yeti smiling and waving at a camera. The rare footage is almost analogous, I feel, to Vivian Kubrick‘s footage of Stanley Kubrick shooting The Shining.

The video shows at a glance that the bearded, shades-wearing, safari-hat-wearing Malick is highly energetic and animated as he explains what he wants Bale to do. It’s also clear that he’s about 5’10” or so, maybe even 5’9″. (I somehow always imagined that Malick was a bit taller than that…don’t ask why.)

(l.) Terrence Malick (in hat and shades), (right-middle) Christian Bale.