After executing the dramatic – and critically-acclaimed – one-two punch with Take Shelter and Mud, director Jeff Nichols will return in a major way in 2016, releasing two feature films should all go according to plan. One of which is Loving, a brand new drama that stars Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga; the other, arriving from the other end of the spectrum, is a sci-fi thriller known as Midnight Special.
Returning at the helm, the writer-director is evidently casting his eye to the genre films of yesteryear with his next project, with today’s trailer containing the some of the wide-eyed wonder found in such classics as E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In terms of the plot driving the extra-terrestrial happenings on screen, Midnight Special will follow a loving father Roy (Shannon) who is left no choice but to go on the run with his son Alton after discovering that he inexplicably possess supernatural abilities.
Bearing some semblance to J.J. Abrams’ Super 8, too, Midnight Special begins to get complicated when a religious sect, led by Sam Shepard’s unflinching chief, claims ownership of Alton as the next Messiah. The government, on the other hand, consider him to be a valuable weapon of mass destruction in waiting, setting up a fascinating pull and tug between the two disparate viewpoints.
Starring alongside Shannon for Nichols’ Midnight Special are Kirsten Dunst, Edgerton, Sam Shepard, Adam Driver and Jaeden Lieberher. It’s due to hit theaters on March 18, 2016.
In the sci-fi thriller “Midnight Special,” writer/director Jeff Nichols proves again that he is one of the most compelling storytellers of our time, as a father (Michael Shannon) goes on the run to protect his young son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), and uncover the truth behind the boy’s special powers. What starts as a race from religious extremists and local law enforcement quickly escalates to a nationwide manhunt involving the highest levels of the Federal Government. Ultimately his father risks everything to protect Alton and help fulfill a destiny that could change the world forever in this genre–defying film as supernatural as it is intimately human.
