Armory Films has announced that Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey, How to be Single) and two-time Academy Award nominee Bruce Dern (Nebraska, The Hateful Eight) will join Shia LaBeouf (American Honey, Transformers, Lawless) in The Peanut Butter Falcon, which was written and will be directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz (The Moped Diaries).
The Peanut Butter Falcon follows a down on his luck crab fisherman as he embarks on a journey to get a young man with Down syndrome to a professional wresting school in rural North Carolina and away from the retirement home where he’s lived most of his life. Principal [hotography will commence on June 17 in Savannah, Georgia. Newcomer Zachary Gottsagen (Becoming Bulletproof), who is the inspiration for the film, will play the principal character of Zak.
Armory Films’ Tim Zajaros and Christopher Lemole will produce and finance the film, alongside Bona Fide Productions’ Academy Award-nominated Albert Berger and Academy Award-nominated Ron Yerxa (Little Miss Sunshine, Nebraska), Academy Award winner T-Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart), Lije Sarki, and David Thies. Burnett will also produce the soundtrack.
Armory Films’ Tim Zajaros and Christopher Lemole said: “Films like this are the reason why we got into the business. The script is absolutely incredible and the message so important, which should be apparent from the superb talent that the script has attracted. Tyler and Michael are extremely talented and we couldn’t be more excited to be working with them.”
Johnson has become one of Hollywood’s fastest rising stars, playing the coveted role of Anastasia Steele in the worldwide phenomenon Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, and starring in such films as How to be Single, Black Mass, A Bigger Splash and The Social Network. She will next be seen starring in Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria. Throughout his long career, Dern amassed Academy Award nominations for his roles in Nebraska and Coming Home, and has also appeared in over 100 films such as The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Monster and The Great Gatsby. Burnett won an Academy Award for Original Song for Crazy Heart in 2009, and was also nominated for Cold Mountain in 2003.
Gottsagen lives with high-functioning Down syndrome, and became the inspiration for The Peanut Butter Falcon after writing/directing duo Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz met him while working at a non-profit arts organization.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
