Jeff Nichols
Birthdate: Dec 7, 1978
Birthplace: Little Rock, Arkansas
Jeff Nichols (birthname: Jeffrey Nichols) is one of the most gifted and acclaimed American independent filmmakers of the early 21st century, making a fascinating body of dramatic films that capture various aspects of life and characters in the American South and heartland. Nichols’s films have consistently received rave reviews since the debut of his stunning Shotgun Stories (2007), starring Michael Shannon and premiering to acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival.
Nichols had his filmmaking breakthrough with his astonishing second feature, Take Shelter (2011), a disturbing psychological thriller that also proved an acting breakthrough for co-stars Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, with Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, and Kathy Baker, and which premiered at the Sundance film festival and won multiple prizes in Cannes film festival’s Critics Week competition before a release by Sony Pictures Classics and FilmNation Entertainment.
Nichols had one of his biggest commercial and artistic successes with the superb drama, Mud (2012), starring Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Sam Shepard, Shannon, Joe Don Baker, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, and Reese Witherspoon, and premiering in competition at the Cannes film festival before a $32.6 million release by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions.
Jeff Nichols revealed his deep fascination with the science fiction genre with his first studio (Warner Bros.) release, Midnight Special (2016), starring Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Jaeden Martell, and Sam Shepard, and premiering at the Berlin film festival. Nichols as usual was director-writer of the critical hit and Oscar-nominated biographical drama about inter-racial love, Loving (2016), starring Edgerton, Ruth Negga (nominated for a Best Actress Oscar), Marton Csokas, Nick Kroll, and Shannon, and released by Focus Features.
Nichols returned to the big screen as director-writer of the biker drama, The Bikeriders (2024), based on the photo book by Danny Lyon and starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Shannon, Mike Faist, Norman Reedus, and Boyd Holbrook, and which was released by Focus Features and Universal Pictures after premiering at the Telluride film festival and earning Nichols a best director prize at the Mill Valley film festival.
Nichols has also served as producer on co-writer/director Rachel Lambert’s debut feature, In a Radiant City (2016); and as executive producer on director-writer Kat Candler’s Sundance-premiering family drama, Hellion (2014), with Aaron Paul, Juliette Lewis, and Josh Wiggins; as well as on Michael Shannon’s directorial debut, screenwriter Brett Neveu’s adaptation of his Columbine-themed play, Eric Larue (2023), with Judy Greer, Paul Sparks, Alison Pill, Tracy Letts, and Alexander Skarsgård, and premiering at the Tribeca film festival.
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Personal Details
Jeff Nichols was born and raised by his parents in Little Rock, Arkansas. Nichols’s brother is Ben Nichols, lead singer of the band Lucero. Nichols attended Little Rock Central High School. Nichols then attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied cinema. Nichols’s height is 6’ 2½ ”.
Filmography
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- 2024 | The Bikeriders
The Bikeriders
After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.
Some Facts About Jeff Nichols
Home Sweet Home: Jeff Nichols stays close to his roots by regularly filming in his home state, Arkansas.
Loyalty: Nichols has cast actor Michael Shannon in a starring or major supporting role in every feature he has made—as well as his 2018 short, Long Way Back Home–starting with his debut, Shotgun Stories.
Influence: Jeff Nichols has cited his primary influence as Mark Twain.
Close But No Cigar: Nichols prepared production as writer-director of the remake of the sci-fi Alien Nation for four years, but the project was scuttled at, as Nichols terms it, “the one-yard line…I had a cast, we were ready to go, but the universe didn’t want me to make it right then.” The other project that Nichols (as director-writer) nearly made was the prequel to A Quiet Place (subsequently titled A Quiet Place: Day One (2024), of which he wrote a script in 2020-2021 but then dropped out over creative differences with the backing studio, Paramount.
