Well, this is curious. Last month, we reported that Christian Bale had been set as the lead in Terrence Malick’s next film. After releasing The Tree of Life this year, the newly prolific director was looking to film yet another project (he has another untitled film starring Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams in the can, which may or may not still be in post-production) sometime early next year. It made sense that filming wouldn’t get underway until 2012, because Bale is busy shooting The Dark Knight Rises and Malick still has another film to finish.

However, this past weekend at the Austin City Limits Music Festival the reclusive director and Bale were present alongside a full camera crew. Word of the sighting quickly spread, leading to a high-quality snapshot of the two on stage during a Bright Eyes performance (I wonder which one’s the Conor Oberst fan?). This is a fairly big deal, as a proper photo of Malick hasn’t been taken in a very long time. Hit the jump for more.

UPDATED with a new image and video of Bale and Malick on set.