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.

Coming off an Oscar win for The Fighter and currently shooting one of the biggest films of 2012, Christian Bale has a wide variety of projects to choose from as his follow-up to The Dark Knight Rises.  His third (and supposedly final) Batman film wraps shooting this fall and he’s eyeing various high-profile projects as his follow up.  Variety reports that he’s considering Clint Eastwood’s remake of A Star Is Born starring Beyonce Knowles, Michael Mann’s Gold, the villain role in Spike Lee’s remake of Oldboy, Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace, and Darren Aronofsky’s Noah.  Bale was supposedly set for Zack Snyder’s The Last Photograph but he is no longer involved with that project.  Variety also doesn’t mention the untitled Terrence Malick film Bale reportedly signed on to last week.

According to Variety, Bale won’t make his decision until The Dark Knight Rises wraps shooting in November nor is he necessarily the front-runner for any of these movies.  It’s also worth noting that all these roles play to Bale’s dramatic side even though he gave audiences a glimpse at his ability to go beyond grim-and-gritty in The Fighter, and it’s easier to get excited about him signing onto a film after that great performance.

Notoriously meticulous director Terrence Malick is becoming quite the prolific director as of late. After helming only four films in his 30+ year career, he released The Tree of Life this past May, sparking up considerably passionate chatter over the film’s merits (as expected with a film as ambitious as Tree of Life). He has another untitled project that he’s currently in post-production on starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz, and now comes word that Christian Bale is set to star in yet another film that the director’s prepping for an early 2012 shoot. Hit the jump for the details.