'The Peanut Butter Falcon' Trailer: A Young Man With Down Syndrome Just Wants To Wrestle And Shia LaBeouf Helps Him
The Peanut Butter Falcon is a movie about a young man with Down syndrome (Zack Gottsagen) who escapes his residential nursing home to follow his dreams of becoming a professional wrestler. As our own Jacob Hall astutely pointed out earlier this year, that might sound like the premise for a movie you might find in 30 Rock, but if the first trailer is any indicator, this actually looks like an uplifting, wonderful indie gem that will steal your heart. Watch The Peanut Butter Falcon trailer below.
The Peanut Butter Falcon Trailer
The press release for The Peanut Butter Falcon calls this a modern day Mark Twain style adventure story, and our review from South by Southwest adds to that, with our own Jacob Hall saying, "It feels like an adaptation of a long-lost short story, something classical but whimsical, wise and fearless, probably a bit too silly at times but smart enough to know when to pull back."
Making this even more endearing is the fact that lead actor Zack Gottsagen really has Down syndrome, and he gives "an unexpectedly nuanced performance." This trailer really makes him look like a charming lead character, especially once he gets together with Shia LaBeouf out on the river. And the good news is that LaBeouf doesn't take over the movie as soon as he enters the frame. Our review adds, "LaBeouf is nothing if not generous here, letting Gottsagen shine as he offers world-weary support and tough love. It's a graceful performance, powered by nuance and sad eyes and wry smiles."
The rest of the cast includes Dakota Johnson as the nursing home employee tasked with bringing Zak back home, Thomas Haden Chruch as the wrestler who inspires Zak's aspirations, and John Hawkes as another traveler. They're all under the direction of Tyler Nilson and Mike Schwartz,bwho also wrote the script.
A modern Mark Twain style adventure story, The Peanut Butter Falcon tells the story of Zak (Zack 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.
The Peanut Butter Falcon hits theaters starting on August 9, 2019.