Mark Rylance Talks Playing Satan in Terrence Malick’s The Way of the Wind

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Mark Rylance Talks Playing Satan in Terrence Malick’s The Way of the Wind

Actor Mark Rylance has talked about his experience portraying Satan in Terrence Malick‘s upcoming movie The Way of the Wind.

This upcoming epic biblical drama “retells and chronicles several episodes in the life story of Jesus Christ,” according to the synopsis. It is written and directed by Malick, who has also made movies like Badlands, The New World, and The Tree of Life.

Rylance recently told RTL (via World of Reel) about his experience playing Satan in this movie. “There I stood, as Satan, with 28 pages of monologue running through my mind, while Jesus barely uttered a word,” he says. “Most of the time, I accompanied Jesus as Satan; it’s not the situation for extensive discussions. During filming, there’s no time for rehearsals, so it’s not the moment for lengthy conversations. It’s akin to a boxer focusing solely on stepping into the ring. Discussing Hungarian history doesn’t help in such moments. Especially not in a Terrence Malick film, where everything is at stake.”

He elaborates on working with Géza Röhrig, who portrays Jesus Christ in the movie. “I got along very well with Géza; it was a great honor to act alongside the lead of ‘Son of Saul.’ I believe ‘Son of Saul’ rightfully belongs among the top ten films of all time, and his performance is astounding. I hope that Terry eventually completes the film […] It’s like a fine wine or whiskey; it only gets better with time. Terrence isn’t rushing anything either. This is a very important story for him.”

When is The Way of the Wind release date?

There is no set release date for the film. The movie finished filming in 2019 and has been in post-production since.

The film stars Géza Röhrig as Jesus Christ, Mark Rylance as Satan, Matthias Schoenaerts as Saint Peter, Philip Arditti as Hosea, Nabil Elouahabi as Saint Stephen, Aidan Turner as Saint Andrew, Con O’Neill as Enoch, Joseph Mawle as Saul, Karel Roden as Mamon, Martin McCann as Marcellus, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina as Claudia, Laëtitia Eïdo as Anna, Ali Suliman as Cleopas, and Shadi Mar’i as Asher.

The cast also includes Selim Bayraktar as Jonathan, Ori Pfeffer as Ahaziah, Selva Rasalingam as Jeroboam, Tawfeek Barhom as John, Sebastiano Filocamo as Prodigal Elder Brother, Makram Khoury as Jonas, Ben Kingsley, Joseph Fiennes, Douglas Booth, Sarah Greene, Mathieu Kassovitz, Numan Acar, Björn Thors, Franz Rogowski, and Leila Hatami as Mary Magdalene.