Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions Present " MUD " Written and directed by Jeff Nichols Starring Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Sam Shepard and Reese Witherspoon Running Time: 130 Minutes Rated: PG-13 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Official Selection Two boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi and form a pact to help him reunite with his lover and escape.
MUD (SPOTLIGHT): " TRAILER" (VO) - FILM CLIPS (VOSTFR): " Clip #1" - " Clip #2" - FILM CLIPS (VO): " Clip #1" - " Clip #2" -
Mud, Sundance Film Festival 2013 ( Spotlight) Director Jeff Nichols. Photo by James Bridges. Jeff Nichols, Director and Writer Jeff Nichols made his feature film debut as the writer and director of Shotgun Stories in 2007, and his second film, Take Shelter, was released in 2011. Shotgun Stories premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2007, and was released theatrically in the United States in March 2008. It was nominated for a 2008 Independent Spirit Award, won the Grand Jury Prize for New American Cinema at the Seattle International Film Festival, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Austin Film Festival, and won the FIPRESCI International Jury Prize at the 2007 Viennale. Take Shelter premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was released theatrically in the United States in September 2011. It won the Critics Week Grand Prize, the FIPRESCI award, and the SACD Award for Best Feature at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Take Shelter was nominated for five 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards including: Best Feature, Best Director, Best Male Lead (Michael Shannon) and Best Supporting Female (Jessica Chastain). Mud, Nichols third and latest film, recently premiered in main competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Nichols is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking, and is a current resident of Austin, Texas.
Mud directed by Jeff Nichols, Sundance Film Festival 2013 ( Spotlight) Matthew McConaughey. Photo by James Bridges. Long Synopsis 14 year-old Ellis (Tye Sheridan) lives on a makeshift houseboat on the banks of a river in Arkansas with his parents, Mary Lee (Sarah Paulson) and Senior (Ray McKinnon). He sneaks out early one morning to meet his best friend, Neckbone (Jacob Lofland). Neckbone, also 14, lives with his uncle, Galen (Michael Shannon), who makes a hardscrabble living diving for oysters. The two boys set out to an island on the Mississippi River, where Neckbone has discovered an unusual sight—a boat, suspended high in the trees, a remnant of an extreme flood some time in the past. They climb the tree and into the boat only to find fresh bread and fresh footprints. Realizing that they are not the only ones who have discovered the treehouse boat, they decide to leave. When they reach the shore, they find the same footprint in their boat. And that’s when they meet Mud (Matthew McConaughey). Mud is a gritty, superstitious character; his clothes are dirty, his tooth is cracked, and he needs help. He tells the boys he will give them the treehouse boat, his current hideout, in exchange for food. Neckbone is reluctant, but Ellis brings food to Mud, and they develop a tentative friendship. Ellis learns that Mud has killed a man in Texas, and police and bounty hunters are looking for him, but Mud is more concerned about reuniting with his longtime love, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). Ellis, who has recently developed his own crush, agrees to help Mud escape with Juniper. Ellis and Neckbone carry out bold schemes in an effort to protect Mud and relay messages to Juniper, who is holed up in a fleabag motel, under constant surveillance by Carver (Paul Sparks), a Texas bounty hunter. Carver and his gang are intent on capturing Mud, on orders from the cold-blooded King (Joe Don Baker). As the boys risk everything to reunite these seeming mythical lovers, Ellis’s own ideas about love and romance are challenged by the strains in the relationships closest to him: his parents’ marriage is dissolving while he himself falters in his efforts to impress May Pearl (Bonnie Sturdivant). Through it all, Ellis struggles to look for an example of love that he can believe in, learning about the unspoken rules and risks of love and the reality of heartbreak.