Jeff Nichols' feature debut "Shotgun Stories," is one of the best movies I've seen in the past five years, so it comes as no surprise that Sony Pictures Classics has preemptively picked up the filmmaker's follow-up, "Take Shelter," in advance of its world premiere in dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
SPC has acquired rights to the apocalyptic drama in North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.
"Shotgun's" Michael Shannon stars as a family man from Ohio who fears that a coming storm signals the end of the world. His obsessive anxiety leads him to build a storm shelter, and his bizarre behavior begins to arouse concern from his friends and family.
Jessica Chastain ("The Tree of Life") co-stars alongside Katy Mixon, Kathy Baker and Shannon's "Boardwalk Empire" co-star Shea Whigham.
Strange Matter Films' Tyler Davidson produced the picture with Sophia Lin, while Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Sarah Green (SPC's "The Spanish Prisoner") exec produced with Richard Rothfeld, Chris Perot, Christos Konstantakopoulos and "Skyline" directors Greg & Colin Strause, whose company Hydraulx handled the film's visual effects.
CAA set up the financing for "Take Shelter" and brokered the deal with the studio. The agency also represents Nichols, Shannon, Chastain, Whigham and the Strause brothers.
