Last month I brought along a few ominous stills and a synopsis for the Sundance entry TAKE SHELTER, an apocalyptic drama starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. It’s one of the more compelling entries to the fest, which kicks off later this week, and it appears as though a studio thinks so as well – TAKE SHELTER has already been bought.
Sony Pictures Classics, the indie division of – of course – Sony, has preemptively bought Jeff Nichols’ film; the acquisition includes rights to North American, Australian and Latin American, Australian and New Zealand.
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.
In addition to Shannon and Chastain, TAKE SHELTER stars Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Kathy Baker and Ray McKinnon. No release date has been set, but I suppose we should wait until after the film’s JANUARY 23rd Sundance debut for news about a distribution plan.