Nichols’ film ‘Take Shelter’ picked up by Sony Pictures Classics

Writer/director Jeff Nichols’ second film, Take Shelter, premiers this Monday at Sundance. For a filmmaker there must be tons of emotions wrapped up in landing a film at such a prestigious institution. Pure elation and joy, I’m sure, are among them. But anxiety and stress over the film’s acceptance probably take up their fair share of mind space as well. But acceptance and accolades, fear and doubt have probably taken a temporary back seat to the news that Sony Pictures Classics have purchased the film in advance of this Monday’s screening.

Here is a synopsis of the film from Sundance’s website:

Following his acclaimed debut, Shotgun Stories, writer/director Jeff Nichols reteams with actor Michael Shannon to create a haunting tale that will creep under your skin and expose your darkest fears.
Curtis LaForche lives in a small town in Ohio with his wife, Samantha, and daughter, Hannah, a six-year-old deaf girl. When Curtis begins to have terrifying dreams, he keeps the visions to himself, channeling his anxiety into obsessively building a storm shelter in his backyard. His seemingly inexplicable behavior concerns and confounds those closest to him, but the resulting strain on his marriage and tension within his community can’t compare with Curtis’s privately held fear of what his dreams may truly signify.
Take Shelter features fully realized characters crumbling under the weight of real-life problems. Using tone and atmosphere to chilling effect, Nichols crafts a powerful psychological thriller that is a disturbing tale for our times.

Check out this link to the Sundance site and a video of the director talking about the film, the inspiration for the story, and some production info.

And thanks, Dad, for giving me the heads up on this little bit of news.

Kirk out.

What it is

Okay, I’ve got just a few minutes to get a quick post in so please excuse my brevity. Lots and lots of new and exciting things have been happening for me lately and I wanted to take a minute to share some of them with you all.

First off, the most obvious item, and one I’ve already mentioned a few times: I finished my first day as a full time college student.  I’m going to keep my declared major to myself for the time being. Suffice it to say that it is very relevant to my hobbies and interest.

I really like the professors and I’m very interested in the topics of the classes I’m taking. The two professors I met yesterday are both young, open minded, and encouraging of debate and dialogue. Great stuff! This is why I’m going the traditional route instead of the online option. I really enjoy lecture courses.

I met the campus editor for the school newspaper in my communications class, and she said they need writers. We spoke after class and it looks like I’ll be tackling writing some articles. This made my day, as it was a goal of mine to write for this paper. It turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be to get the chance. Now all I have to do is try and not write a shite article.

The stars must have aligned this week in just the proper way for the above news and the following news to have happened so close together (at all, even!). I joined a local group of filmmakers (at just the right time apparently) at one of their meetings last week and they announced that they will be writing, producing, screening, and distributing a feature film this year. I was hesitant to throw my lot in with theirs because, even though I write fiction, I don’t know anything about writing a screenplay. Not enough to actually write one, anyway.

Not to be deterred, I went to this week’s meeting and introduced myself to the group’s organizer (a very nice young woman), and explained my ignorance and my ambitions. She asked me what I was interested in, and I responded, “Everything!” Proving her prowess as manager and diplomat (Hey, she’s a director--these are good traits to have.) she smiled and asked me to outline the parts of the filmmaking process that I am most interested in. I told her that I would be most interested in writing and editing. She said that she could find a use for me in both cases, and that a willingness to be a part of it was all I needed to be considered. I’m so excited and scared that I can’t even begin to form meaningful thoughts on either of the aforementioned bits of news. 

Inhale.

I joined a tennis team. We play on Saturdays. I haven’t played competitively since (gulp) High School. Hang in there, knees.

I won a blogging award for Top Creative Writing Blog of 2010. My blog was chosen along with about 40 other blogs. I still have no idea who nominated me, and I’m still a little…unsure about it all. I guess I’ll have the badge up soon to prove it. Whatever the reason behind it, it’s nice to be chosen for top anything of 2010. Well, maybe not anything. But you know what I mean.

I attended the Governor’s Inaugural Ball last night with Kelley and our neighbors. That was…interesting.

Anyway, thanks for listening to me blather on about my bits of good news. And for those of you that bothered to read all of that nonsense, I reward you with a very cool new trailer for an indie movie called, Love.

As always, thanks to all of you who read loyally. I truly appreciate it. I encourage those of you who have never commented to join in on the discussion. Please let me know what you’d like to hear more about, or what you would rather here less about. Tell me your cat’s name and the color of your favorite pair of socks, if you want. Let there be discourse!

Kirk out.