Days of Heaven is a 1978 American romantic period drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick, and starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard and Linda Manz. Set in 1916, it tells the story of Bill and Abby, lovers who travel to the Texas Panhandle to harvest crops for a wealthy farmer. Bill persuades Abby to claim the fortune of the dying farmer by tricking him into a false marriage.
Theatrical release poster
To film the swarm of locusts rising into the sky, the film-makers dropped peanut shells from helicopters while the actors walked backwards. This was then run in reverse so that the ground action moved forward, and the locusts were seen ascending.
Terrence Frederick Malick is an American filmmaker. His films include Badlands (1973), Days of Heaven (1978), The Thin Red Line (1998), for which he received Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nominations, The New World (2005), and The Tree of Life (2011), which garnered him another Best Director Oscar nomination and the Palme d'Or at the 64th Cannes Film Festival.
Malick in 1993
Martin Heidegger's Vom Wesen des Grundes (The Essence of Reasons) was translated into English by Malick and published in 1969.
Malick during production of the 1978 film Days of Heaven