document: The Tree of Life to premiere in UK An insider 's guide to the world of cinema by David Gritten . It 's a very British coup -- legendary US director Terrence Malick 's long-awaited new film The Tree of Life , starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn , is to receive its world premiere not in Cannes next month , but a week earlier in the UK . Its distribution company , Icon , has confirmed its May 4 British release date to me . Speculation about the film has been swirling for more than a year ; at one point , it was expected to be screened in Cannes last year . This all adds to the mystique that surrounds the elusive Malick . The film 's American distributor , Fox Searchlight , was clearly taken by surprise by news of the UK opening , describing it as `` not true '' to a Hollywood website . My guess is that the film will still be shown in Cannes , though not in competition for the Palme d'Or . What do you get when you combine the talents of Johnny Depp , gonzo author-journalist Hunter S Thompson and Bruce Robinson , wayward writer‑director of Withnail and I ? A combustible mix , certainly . Or maybe three good reasons to look forward to the autumn release of Rum Diary , a film based on Thompson 's semi-autobiographical novel , starring Depp and scripted by Robinson , who has also directed ; it 's his first film in nearly 20 years . Thompson -LRB- who died in 2005 -RRB- showed Depp the draft of his Rum Diary novel 15 years back , while Depp was shooting another of his works , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas , and urged him to star in it . I gather Rum Diary , in which Depp plays a thinly disguised journalist , down on his luck in Puerto Rico , was completed two years ago . It certainly wo n't be boring .
extractive_keyphrases: life world premiere disguised journalist surprise novel vegas hollywood website reasons tree completed british guess world screened talents describing film based swirling loathing premiere receive speculation expected cinema guide mystique year thompson autumn release years terrence american distributor semiautobiographical news gather luck robinson gonzo authorjournalist withnail first film malick draft two not true longawaited
abstractive_keyphrases: journalist distribution company icon writerdirector british release good reasons mix certainly