Just days away from the release of Jeff Nichols’ second movie Take Shelter, we’ve been told by Film Nation Entertainment, who are also working on Nichols’ next movie Mud, that Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard and Sarah Paulson have joined Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Tye Sheridan in the Southern coming-of-age drama, as have Ray McKinnon (Footloose), Joe Don Baker and Paul Sparks. It starts production today.
Michael Shannon might not be that big a surprise as he’s the star of both Take Shelter and Nichols’ debut Shotgun Stories. In fact, if you read our interview, Shannon pretty much got offered a part in Mud at the end of it!
Shepard and Paulson both star in prestigious festival films being released in Octoper, Shepard in Mateo Gil’s Blackthorn on October 7 and Paulson in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene on October 21. Ray McKinnon can be seen in MTV Films’ remake of Footloose released in the week between.
According to the press release,
“Mud is a coming-of-age drama centered around two fourteen-year-old boys who encounter a mysterious fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi. Intrigued by this man, they enter into a pact to help him evade capture and reconnect with the love of his life. Though it is hard for the boys to discern truth from fiction when it comes to Mud, it isnt long until their small Arkansas town is besieged by a beautiful girl with a line of hunters in tow.”
It goes on to say that Shepard will play the reclusive character of “Tom Blankenship,” Shannon will play “Galen,” the uncle of one of the boys, and Paulson and McKinnon will play the parents of the other. Baker and Sparks are figures who are out for revenge.
