Day 1 – The Sea of Trees at Purgatory Chasm, MA (Courtesy Matthew McConaughey)

Entertainment Weekly has published the first shot of Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe in Gus Van Sant’s Sea of Trees. 

The film centers on Matthew McConaughey’s depressed physics professor, Arthur Brennan, who treks into Japan’s Aokighara forest (known as The Sea of Trees) at the base of Mount Fuji. The Sea of Trees is a serene place where people go to contemplate life and death. Having found the perfect place to die, Arthur encounters Takumi Nakamura (Watanabe), a Japanese man who has also lost his way. The two men begin a journey of reflection and survival, which affirms Arthur’s will to live and reconnects him to his love with his wife (Watts).

This one has literally been shooting in my backyard here in Massachusetts. It’s been a great pleasure to see Gus Van Sant directing a film with McConaughey, fresh off of his Oscar win for an amazing turn in Dallas Buyers Club coming together right in my own neighborhood. 

If Van Sant and McConaughey work to their potential and this one comes together, like I believe it will, I think we’ll have a truly special film on our hands next fall.

Below are some other other images taken during the production: