Midnight Special
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Short description
Roy Tomlin is a father trying to protect his young son Alton, a boy with unusual abilities who has to wear protective goggles and whose life has become the focus of outside attention. After learning what his child can do, Roy takes him on the run, and the two are pursued first by members of the religious community they had been living in and then by law enforcement. The hunt grows wider, drawing in federal authorities, while a government specialist tries to learn everything he can about Alton. Roy and his companion Lucas work to keep the boy safe and to help him reach whatever awaits him, a purpose that could have consequences for the world beyond them.
Jeff Nichols wrote and directed the film, which followed his features Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, Mud and Loving; it was released in the same year as Loving. Michael Shannon plays Roy, Jaeden Martell plays Alton, and the cast includes Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst and Adam Driver. The production was made for about 18 million dollars and returned roughly 7 million worldwide.
On IMDb, the film holds 6.6/10 from around 86,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 6.3/10 from some 2,100 votes. A critics' rating of 7.4/10 from 238 reviews places it above those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Jeff Nichols wrote the screenplay for the film while becoming a father.
- This is the fourth film by Jeff Nichols featuring Michael Shannon.
- Jeff Nichols wanted to handle the editing himself, so he assumed it would be better for him to work with an independent studio than with Warner Bros Pictures. He only informed the studio's negotiators of this at the final meeting. Because the film's budget was quite modest, Warner Bros Pictures did not object and allowed him to carry out his intentions.
- Jeff Nichols' first project with a major film studio.
- Kirsten Dunst filmed without makeup.
- On the first day of filming *Midnight Special*, Adam Driver learned that he had been cast as Kyle Ren in J.J. Abrams' *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* (2015). This information came from director Jeff Nichols.
- In 2016, two films directed by Jeff Nichols were released: *Midnight Special* and *Loving*, starring Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, and Michael Shannon.
- Joel Edgerton and Adam Driver both appeared in films within the *Star Wars* franchise. Edgerton played Owen Lars, Luke Skywalker's uncle, in George Lucas' *Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones* (2002) and *Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith* (2005), while Driver appeared as Kylo Ren in J.J. Abrams' *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* (2015).
- This is the eighth joint project for actors Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks. They previously appeared together in Adam Rapp's *Blackbird* (2007), Noah Buschel's *Missing Person* (2009), Lisa Johnson's *Return* (2011), *Mud* (2012), and Jeff Nichols' *Midnight Special* (2016), in the HBO television series *Boardwalk Empire* (2010-2014), and in the theatrical productions *Lady* (2008) and *The Killer* (2014).
- The poster depicts a child reading Superman comics. In one scene of the film, the character played by Jaeden Lieberher asks, “What is kryptonite?” His father is played by Michael Shannon, who starred as General Zod in Zack Snyder’s *Man of Steel* (2013) and *Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice* (2016).
- One of the comics Elton is reading is *The New Teen Titans* from DC Comics, issue #1 (1982 or a later reprint). The cover shows a battle between Starfire and Blackfire.
- Filming for the movie took 40 days.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
