'The Peanut Butter Falcon' Trailer: Shia LaBeouf Stars In A Modern Mark Twain Riff

Reach back, if you will, and recollect the days of your high school years. Perhaps you can dimly recall an English classroom and long hours of reading (by force) the novels of Mark Twain. Maybe you even have fond memories of a young rogue named Huckleberry Finn, who faked his death and fled up the Mississippi River with naught but a raft and Jim, a slave on the run. If you enjoyed (or even remember) the comedic, moving story of Twain’s All-American Moses, you’re sure to enjoy the upcoming adventure of the summer: “The Peanut Butter Falcon.”

Here’s the synopsis:

A modern Mark Twain style adventure story, THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON tells the story of Zak (Zak Gottsagen), a young man with Down syndrome, who runs away from a residential nursing home to follow his dream of attending the professional wrestling school of his idol, The Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church). A strange turn of events pairs him on the road with Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), a small-time outlaw on the run, who becomes Zak’s unlikely coach and ally. Together they wind through deltas, elude capture, drink whisky, find God, catch fish, and convince Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a kind nursing home employee charged with Zak’s return, to join them on their journey.

Sounds fun, right? “The Peanut Butter Falcon” is the first feature from director and writer Tyler Nilson. Nilson is credited most notably as an actor, producer, and writer of various documentaries and video shorts. (Oh, and his IMBD page is not remiss to mention his own experience as an adventurer of the South Pacific and a renowned Hollywood hand model.) The film was co-written and directed by Michael Schwartz and shot in Savannah, Georgia. During production, it’s reported that Shia LaBeouf was arrested for a disruptive display of “public drunkenness.” Well, perhaps the antics and anarchy were worth it, because “The Peanut Butter Falcon” won SXSW Film Festival’s Audience Award for Narrative Spotlight and currently maintains solidly stellar reviews (including ours). Will you go along for the ride?

“The Peanut Butter Falcon” features Shia LaBeouf, Zak Gottsagen, Dakota Johnson, and Thomas Haden Church. It will be released on August 9, 2019.