Haley Bennett And Clemence Poesy Could Be Terrence Malick's Next Breakout Star

It's strange enough to live in a world in which Terrence Malick is constantly developing a new project-- the famously slow-paced filmmaker once spent 20 years between feature film releases doing god-knows-what-- but even stranger to see casting rumors about his next project in the trades. With Jessica Chastain in seemingly every movie released this summer, and all thanks to Malick casting her in Tree of Life years ago, people are apparently wondering which other unknown actress Malick will pluck from obscurity in his next film. If this is a question that burns you up at night, we may now have an answer.

According to Variety, Haley Bennett may be Malick's top pick for his next project, which is set for a summer shoot next year and reportedly is an intimate two-person story that may also star Christian Bale. Bennett's name showed up on a shortlist of actresses back when Bale's name first surfaced, alongside much better known actresses like Rooney Mara and Mia Wasikowska; her competition also included 127 Hours's Clemence Poesy, whom Variety says is also still in the running.

Either Bennett or Poesy would definitely qualify as "plucked out of nowhere" the way Chastain was; the Tree of Life actress had just the lead role in the indie Jolene to her name before Malick cast her in his epic film. Poesy's face is well known to fans around the world as Fleur Delacour in the Harry Potter films, but that definitely has made her a star; Bennett, on the other hand, has had small roles in big movies like Marley & Me and Music and Lyrics, but was most memorable in Gregg Araki's festival favorite Kaboom. Who knows what Malick would be able to bring out of either actress-- he's got a knack for pulling out performances you never saw coming-- but with the example of Chastain to follow, you can bet both Bennett and Poesy are eager to get the part.