The Peanut Butter Falcon arrives on Digital November 5 and on Blu-ray (plus Digital), DVD and On Demand November 12 from Lionsgate.
Emmy® winner Shia LaBeouf (Transformers franchise, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) stars alongside Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, Suspiria, The Social Network) in “the sweetest darn film of the decade” (Film Inquiry) when The Peanut Butter Falcon arrives on Digital November 5 and on Blu-ray (plus Digital), DVD and On Demand November 12 from Lionsgate. The Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh™ film, about a young man with Down syndrome who dreams of becoming a professional wrestler, also stars Oscar® nominee John Hawkes (2010, Best Supporting Actor, Winter’s Bone), Zack Gottsagen (Bulletproof), Oscar® nominee and Emmy® winner Thomas Haden Church (2004, Best Supporting Actor, Sideways), and Oscar® nominee Bruce Dern (2013, Best Actor, Nebraska.) From the producers of Little Miss Sunshine, The Peanut Butter Falcon is “full of heart and packed with humor” (Jeremy Dick, MovieWeb).
The Peanut Butter Falcon follows Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a young man with Down syndrome who runs away from a residential nursing home to fulfill his dream of attending the pro wrestling school of his idol, The Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church). On the road, Zak meets Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), a small-time outlaw who becomes Zak’s unlikely coach and ally. Together, they set out on a wild, life-changing journey and try to convince Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a kind nursing-home employee charged with bringing Zak back, to join them.
Bring home The Peanut Butter Falcon and celebrate the adventure while diving deeper into the production with a photo gallery and behind-the-scenes featurette. The Peanut Butter Falcon Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $24.99 and $19.98, respectively.
BLU-RAY / DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
Photo Gallery
“Zack’s Story: The Making of Peanut Butter Falcon” Featurette
North Carolina’s Outer Banks provide a unique, Southern setting for PEANUT BUTTER FALCON, a predictable road movie that benefits from one outstanding performance at its center. Zac (Zack Gottsagen) is a young man with Down Syndrome who has been situated in a senior care center by the state since he has no family or money. Popular with the elderly residents, Zac’s passion is wrestling and every day he watches a decades-old VHS tape featuring ‘The Salt Water Redneck’ (Thomas Haden Church), an old wrestler who once ran a wrestling school that Zac thinks still exists and wants to attend. Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a kind woman who works at the facility considers Zac a ‘flight risk’. Zac shares a room with old Carl (Bruce Dern), who’s not happy about having to watch that same obnoxious wrestling video all day but understands Zac’s desire to break fee. One night, Carl helps Zac bend back the window bars, greases him up with soap, then watches him escape into the dark, barefoot wearing just his tightly-whiteys. Zac hides out on a boat belonging to Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), a crabber on the run from Duncan (John Hawkes) a rival whose business he’s just torched. Tyler and his stowaway bond while being chased by Duncan. At the same time, Eleanor must find Zac before her superiors can lock him away in a state hospital. Tyler and Zac set off on foot through a swampy landscape to get Zac to Salt Water Redneck’s wrestling school. When Eleanor finally catches up with them, they have built a raft and convince her (after tossing her car keys into the water) to join them on their ‘Huck and Jim’ journey down the coastline.
The best thing about PEANUT BUTTER FALCON is the casting of the surprisingly charismatic Zack Gottsagen, an actor with Downs Syndrome. (Gottsagen was discovered by writer/directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz at a camp for young performers). His Zak is dimensional and likeable without being overly sympathetic. With hilarious deadpan delivery, he gives as good as he gets in his exchanges with LaBeouf’s Tyler. Gottsagen has a natural way, transcending the familiar story and making it feel more sincere.
Shia LaBeouf is miscast as he always is in any movie meant to be taken seriously. With his constant fist-pumping, macho howling, and bro-hugging, LaBeouf overdoes it in every scene. The baby-faced actor constantly seems to be trying to upstage Gottsagen, who acts circles around the more experienced LaBeouf with barely a change of expression. Despite all the forced bonding, Tyler’s really a jerk. John Hawke’s Duncan (with a heavily tattooed Yelawolf as his scary henchman) is nominally the film’s villain but the fact is, Tyler had stolen his crabs and burned up all of his crabbing equipment, depriving the man of his livelihood, so his quest for revenge hardly seems irrational. Dakota Johnson’s Eleanor is beautiful and smart and conveniently widowed but the romantic subplot between her and Tyler seems forced and implausible. They first meet at a backroads store, where he rudely harasses her, and then before you know it, this stunning babe is swooning for this immature and unwashed crab-poacher on the run who looks like he washes his clothes in motor oil. It doesn’t add up and Ms Johnson lacks the acting chops to convince. As Tyler’s doomed brother, John Bernthal shows up in several flashbacks, each which serve the exact same purpose. Better is Thomas Haden Church, a scene stealer as the retired wrestler affected by Zac. The entire adventure ends with a wrestling move so silly I can only assume it was supposed to be a fantasy but it hardly fits the film’s tone.
PEANUT BUTTER FALCON is a decent and good-looking movie. Its heart is in its right place, but the story gets too precious and often meanders. At only 93 mins, it felt much longer with slow pacing, pointless scenes (an encounter with a blind backwoods preacher is especially ridiculous), and predictable clichés.
Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz are the writer and director team behind the new film PEANUT BUTTER FALCON. Filmed in Savannah, Georgia (standing in for North Carolina’s Outer Banks), PEANUT BUTTER FALCON tells the story of Zak (Zack Gottsagen) , a young man with Down Syndrome who runs away from his care home to make his dream of becoming a wrestler come true. PEANUT BUTTER FALCON opens everywhere August 23rd and co-stars Shia LaBeouf, John Hawkes, Dakota Johnson, Thomas Haden Church, and Bruce Dern.
Writer/directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about their project.
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman August 23rd 2019
Tom Stockman: Congratulations on PEANUT BUTTER FALCON.
Tyler Nilson: Thanks.
TS: I watched it on my computer the other day.
Mike Schwartz: How does it play on the small screen?
TS: Funny you should say that, There are so many beautiful exteriors in your film I kept thinking “dammit, I should be watching this on the big screen”
TN: Yes, we are movie geeks too. With all the shots our cinematographer used and all the lenses, it’s so great for us to be able to see it at the theater.
TS: I saw over at the Rotten Tomatoes site that it registers 100% on their Tomato Meter. That must make you guys feel pretty good
MS: It feels really good right now.
TN: We’ve got something to lose! We can only go downhill from there.
MS: Yes, I look at that every couple of days wondering when it’s going to go down. It took us five years to make this film, from the idea to where it is now, so for people to watch it at all now, much less to like it, feels really special.
TS: It’s your first feature, correct?
TN: Yes, we have never made a feature. We had made a couple of shorts and commercials.
TS: And look at all of the people you have in your film! You’ve got Oscar nominees starring in your first film!
MS: Yes three of them! Bruce Dern, John Hawkes, and Thomas Haden Church.
TS: How did you get such a great cast for your first film?
TN: A miracle.
MS: I think our producers really called in some favors, but not always does it go like that. I think people responded nicely to our script. The reason it took us five years is that we wrote the script for Zack and we couldn’t get anyone else to read it for almost a year. Then we grabbed a camera with our buddy Dave and we shot a trailer starring Zack and with Tyler playing the role that Shia LeBoeuf plays. After that, people started reaching out to us. Even Shia facetimed us and said he wanted to be in the film. He hadn’t even finished reading the script and he wanted to make it.
TS: Let’s talk about this fellow Zack Gottsagen. You say you wrote the part for him. Where did you meet him?
TN: We met him at a camp for people with and without disabilities. They get together and they play sports and sometimes they make short films. We were making a film as part of this camp and Zack acted in our film and he was making very smart acting decisions He been acting all his life and he said that he wanted to be a movie star. That’s what he wanted in life. We figured that wouldn’t be easy for him because there are not a lot of characters written that have Downs Syndrome or people making movies starring people with Downs Syndrome, but he really wanted to do this. We tailored the script for him.
TS: Did the fact that he had Down Syndrome affect his ability to memorize his lines?
MS: Having Down Syndrome is a different ability, I don’t even know if I’d say it’s a disability. One way it affected production was that Zack was very present on set as well as being emotionally available and intelligent. He wasn’t just saying the line. He was having a conversation. Some of the lines he just came up with on his own on the spot. I think being so present gave him a leg up and made him a better actor in many ways. It was almost like a superpower instead of a disability. Some of the other actors were intimidated when doing a scene with Zack because he was not faking it, he was living it. It’s such a high bar to reach and if you don’t match him there, it looks like you’re faking it. It’s an intimidating thing.
TS: I felt like the chemistry between Zack and Shia LeBoeuf was very strong. It’s really the heart of the film. Were they buddies off-screen as well?
TN: Yes. We had an old truck on the set. The truck that John Bernthal drives in the movie. Tyler and I went to pick up Shia. Zack was in the back sitting in an old tire Then Shia got in the back and we drove down to an old shrimp dock on the coast and the two of them just hit it off like old friends. They chatted for hours and watched wrestling together It was a real friendship. They weren’t faking it.
TS: Has Zack been a big part of helping to promote this film?
MS: Yes. He’s taping a Today Show segment today and recently did a People Magazine interview.
TS: I know you showed this film at SXSW. Has Zack to some of these film festivals?
TN: Yes we just saw him two days ago at a film festival in Bloomington. He’s going to be out doing The Tonight Show and Good Morning America soon.
TS: How does he feel about all of this?
MS: He loves it. He always gets a standing ovation when we are at a screening He’s very proud.
TS: How did Dakota Johnson get involved in your film? This must’ve been right around the time the Fifty Shades of Grey films were coming out.
TN: Yes, it was right after the last one had come out. She read the script and wanted to be in our film. We spoke to her on the phone and connected with her. We offered her the role. There were no auditions for that part.
TS: What would she like on the set?
TN: Perfect!
MS: Just a goddess. She really loved Zack as well She was used to doing much bigger films so she came on our set, where we had less money and the actors did not have fancy trailers, but she really connected emotionally. It was like a family Or, in a way, it felt like summer camp We really have to give a lot of credit to our producers. If we did not have Oscar-nominated producers, a lot of these actors would not have taken a risk with it.
TS: What was it like working with Shia LeBoeuf at that particular point in his career? There was some controversy with things he had done soon before that.
TN: Yes, but he was great.
MS: Yes, he’s had some controversy, but he’s an artist Working with him was a dream despite what he may have done in his personal life. There is a story that he tells about being with Zack and being at a birthday party and Zack having a conversation with him about what he does off the set. Zack told him that it was his big chance to be in a movie and to please just be there with him. Shia said in a interview with Esquire Magazine that Zack changed his life for the better. He’s on record as saying that this film saved his life.
TS: We find out about halfway through the film that the title PEANUT BUTTER FALCON refers to a wrestling character. Who came up with that title?
TN: We were just hanging out with Zack one day and divine intervention, or whatever that thing that comes down to writers is, just sort of came down on all of us.
TS: It’s a catchy title. It doesn’t make sense when you first look at it. Sort of like VANILLA SKY, but it catches your attention.
TN: Yes. But there’s THE MALTESE FALCON and The Millennial Falcon, the words just feel good together.
TS: It takes place on the Outer Banks of North Carolina but you guys filmed it in Savannah, Georgia. Why did you choose Savannah?
MS: Mainly because of tax advantages and access to the crew, but really the story worked well there. We had the inland waterways and we had the marshes and the whole rural south. It takes so many people to make a movie, and they have some great people there in Savannah The Outer Banks is great, but there’s simply not a lot of people there that make movies.
TS: What were some of the challenges filming in Savannah?
MS: Probably the same as if we had filmed in North Carolina. It was hot. There were 14-foot tidal shifts that made sets disappear. The scene we called the “walk on water“ scene we shot in 15 minutes The ocean went up 14 feet just a half hour later, so we were in a boat filming on sand that is completely underwater later
TS: This is your first feature and you two are co-directing. Describe the co-directing process
TN: We’ve been working together for 10 years I think we both just had a skill set that worked well together and there’s not a lot of ego. Half the time he’ll come up with a better idea than I have and sometimes I’ll come up with a better idea. When you’re on a movie set, things are moving so fast it works nicely that one of us could go connect with Shia a while the other can be talking to a crewmember. It’s almost like it goes twice as fast.
TS: How long have you guys known each other?
MS: Over 13 years.
TS: Where did you to grow up?
TN: I grew up in Outer Banks North Carolina
MS: And I grew up in Sonoma, in northern California
TS: Tell me about the wrestler guys that appear at the end of your film. How about this big guy named Sampson?
TN: Those guys are real professional wrestlers. Guys like Nick Foley and Jake Foley who played Sampson, also known as “Jake the Snake“ Those guys are like wrestling royalty. We were hoping that those guys would agree to play parts, and we were so lucky that they agreed to
TS: You said you guys are Movie Geeks. What are your favorite top two or three movies?
TN: Well I can’t just say two or three. You have to give me 12!
MS: My list to changes all the time but I really love movies where dreams come true. FIELD OF DREAMS to me is one of the best.
TN: I’ll give you three real quick: DANCES WITH WOLVES, BOTTLE ROCKET, and IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER.
TS: Good luck with your film and I look forward to seeing it again, next time on the big screen!
