Jeff Nichols Talks Three Films That Died

A new feature interview with celebrated “Take Shelter,” “Mud” and “The Bikeriders” filmmaker Jeff Nichols has confirmed that multiple projects he’s worked on are effectively dead – even as he’d still like to make them some day.

Talking with Variety, he revealed that the previously announced Cuban Revolution-themed feature “Yankee Comandante,” which would’ve reunited him with his “Midnight Special” star Adam Driver, is no longer happening:

“I love that film [‘Yankee’], and I would really like to make it. It’s hard to take a movie out in March of 2020. That was a rough year! I love it so much, and David Grann’s article that inspired it is so good. I’m loath to ever say movies are important, but it feels like something that’s important.

Adam was going to star as William Morgan, and now that won’t happen, but we’ve got another project that we’re going to do together. It [‘Yankee Comandante’] is an important film not only about our relationship with Cuba but also our relationship with the Southern Hemisphere and whether we’re able to export our ideology. I love what the film talks about, and I love that it’s a true story that’s a little bit gonzo.”

A few years back Nichols confirmed he was adapting two Cormac McCarthy books, “The Passenger” and “Stella Maris,” and combining the two into a single feature. Asked if the new project with Driver was that, he says it’s not and the McCarthy project is apparently dead as well:

“It’s not. Those two books would become one screenplay, which I’ve written, because the books are connected. But that was with New Regency and I don’t think they’ll be moving forward with that one. It’s a challenging story and it made for a challenging screenplay. Ultimately, they were looking for a more commercial story and I think I was a little too faithful to the books.”

Of course, Nichols spent many years attached to a remake of “Alien Nation” with that project falling by the wayside following the Disney-Fox merger. He says “it’s still something I want to make” but sadly it’s almost certainly not going to happen.

Recently, Nicholas has been in Arkansas shooting the Southern indie horror film “King Snake” starring Margaret Qualley, Drew Starkey, and Michael Shannon. NEON is set to release that film, but it hasn’t set a date yet.

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