Austin Butler and Jodie Comer are ready to drive off into the sunset together — that is, unless Butler’s biker gang boss, played by Tom Hardy, lets them.
The core trio behind Jeff Nichols‘ “The Bikeriders” drive the motorcycle-centric drama set in the 1960s. Inspired by Danny Lyon’s iconic book of photography, “The Bikeriders” centers on the subculture of the era’s motorcycle riders. Comer plays Kathy, a strong-willed member of the Vandals gang who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny (Butler). Kathy recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders led by Johnny (Hardy) and later turning into a dangerous crime-driven gang.
Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, and Norman Reedus also star.
“The Bikeriders” marks Nichols’ first film in eight years since 2016’s “Loving.” The feature kicked off the Telluride Film Festival when it was still set to be released December 1, 2023 by New Regency and 20th Century. The film was pulled from the studios’ release calendars due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. “The Bikeriders” later was sold to Focus Features, and landed a new release date more than six months after its initial slated theatrical run.
The shift in release makes for “The Bikeriders” star Butler to have a busy first half of 2024, with “Dune: Part Two” also opening. Butler formerly gushed over “The Bikeriders” co-star Hardy, comparing the actor to Marlon Brando. Butler also credited indie film “The Bikeriders” for serving as a palette cleanser between starring in big-budget blockbusters.
“After the spectacle of ‘Elvis’ and ‘Dune,’ and these characters that were quite different from me, to be able to go to something where — there’s an intimate sensitivity to ‘The Bikeriders,’” Butler told Interview magazine. “It’s the roaring engines and the smell of grease that we got to be around. It was nice to go to something that felt more independent and play in that space for a bit.”
Butler added, “To get to ride motorcycles through Cincinnati, through these cornfields, it was just amazing. You know what that feels like, where the wind is in your hair. You feel like you’re mainlining God.”
As writer-director Nichols previously told IndieWire, the cast mostly did their own riding on period-correct bikes.
“The Bikeriders” is produced by Sarah Green, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, and Arnon Milchan, with Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer, Sam Hanson, David Kern, and Fred Berger serving as executive producers.
“The Bikeriders” premieres June 21 in theaters from Focus Features. Check out the new trailer below and read the IndieWire review here.
