Austin filmmaker Jeff Nichols doesn’t have to sweat it when he takes his second film, Take Shelter, to Sundance this weekend: He’s already sold the sucker.

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that it’s purchased the rights to Take Shelter, Nichols’ followup to his 2007 debut film Shotgun Stories. Nichols stars his Shotgun lead Michael Shannon (currently appearing in Boardwalk Empire), Jessica Chastain (who costars in Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life), Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, and Kathy Baker.

Shannon plays a small-town Ohio man who “begins to have terrifying dreams, he keeps the visions to himself, channeling his anxiety into obsessively building a storm shelter in his backyard. His seemingly inexplicable behavior concerns and confounds those closest to him, but the resulting strain on his marriage and tension within his community can’t compare with Curtis’s privately held fear of what his dreams may truly signify.”

The film world-premieres in the dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 24.

This article appears in January 14 • 2011.

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A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...