How Billy Bob Thornton’s ‘Sling Blade’ Lit An Auteur’s Path For ‘The Bikeriders’ Jeff Nichols: The Film That Lit My Fuse

Jeff Nichols today launches The Bikeriders, a drama he wrote from a book of photographs by Danny Lyon. Inspired by the emotions that a generation of motorcycle riders found in the ’60s, Nichols created a narrative around that and a three-character struggle among Austin Butler, Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer, surrounded by a great ensemble featuring Norman Reedus and Michael Shannon, a fixture of Nichols films.

RELATED: Here Are All the Songs In ‘The Bikeriders’

Shannon starred in his 2007 debut, Shotgun Stories, but Nichols found his breakout five years later in Mud, a coming-of-age drama that starred Matthew McConaughey, and 2016’s Loving with Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga. He is among a group of filmmakers who prefer to direct their own scripts, and while his upcoming projects will be bigger in scale, he will come to them a fully formed filmmaker because of the path he has taken.

RELATED: ‘The Bikeriders’ Review: Jeff Nichols Rediscovers The Motorcycle Gang Code With Superb Cast Led By Jodie Comer, Austin Butler & Tom Hardy – Telluride Film Festival

Here, he takes us under the hood of how he developed such a personal and distinctive storytelling style and explains the profound impact that Billy Bob Thornton’s indie classic Sling Blade had in building confidence in telling stories grounded in his own reality. That film was set in Little Rock, AR, where Nichols grew up, and as you’ll see here, Thornton’s well-drawn characters were people he felt he knew.

RELATED: Breaking Baz Exclusive: Filmmaker Jeff Nichols On The Sexual Tension At Heart Of ‘The Bikeriders’ Movie Involving A “Love Triangle” Played By Austin Butler, Jodie Comer & Tom Hardy

RELATED: ‘The Bikeriders’ Trailer: Austin Butler, Jodie Comer & Tom Hardy Get Their Motors’ Runnin’