Ahead of this year’s SXSW festival, RLJE Films has today unleashed the official trailer for Benjamin Brewer‘s (The Trust) action shocker Arcadian which will receive its world premiere this Monday.
Starring the ever-prolific Nicolas Cage and helmed by Brewer, from a script written by Mike Nilon (Nicolas Cage’s agent, manager, and producing partner who previously wrote 2018’s Braven), the film takes place in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a mysterious evil that emerges at night. Paul (Cage) and his two sons, Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins – “Reacher”) and Joseph (Jaeden Martell – It, Knives Out), have been living a half-life – tranquility by day and torment by night. When Thomas goes missing after dark one day, Paul must venture beyond the safety of their fortified farm on a perilous quest to find him. What follows is a nightmarish battle that will push the family to their limits.
Brewer, who previously directed Cage in The Trust, was drawn to the film’s emotional core: the tight bond between the brothers: “That’s something I can relate to very deeply,” he says. “I liked the idea that the coming-of-age story could be rendered in a sort of Mad Max apocalypse world, giving these recognizable tropes of growing up a dark fairytale hue, and I was also excited to have an opportunity to work with Nicolas Cage again. Nick’s a fantastic actor, of course, but also just a fun, generous person. I knew we’d have a good time together.”
Arcadian will have its World Premiere as SXSW on March 11th before releasing exclusively in theaters on April 12, 2024, and until then, we’ll leave you with the aforementioned trailer for a preview of this intriguing blend of a coming-of-age-story set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
