First Image Debuts from Jeff Nichols' 'Loving', Starring Joel Edgerton

I know it's a popular custom to post stories about mainstream films being made in Hollywood nowadays (comic books movies, sequels, reboots, remakes, etc.) but sometimes, it's quite important to pay attention to the smaller, less known films being made. And usually, these films turn out to be quite good too.

The producers behind the interracial marriage drama, Loving, have debuted their first image from the film, which stars Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as Richard and Mildred Loving. The Lovings were an interracial couple who - after being married in June of 1958 - were arrested, thrown in jail and exiled from their home state of Virginia. For the next nine years, the committed couple fought for their marriage and their right to return home.

The film is inspired by the Nancy Buirski documentary, The Loving Story, and is being written and directed by Jeff Nichols, who has quite the start to his film career with Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, Mud and next year's, Midnight Special.

Nichols longtime collaborator, Michael Shannon (Man of Steel) will once again have a role in this film, playing Grey Villet, the LIFE Magazine photographer who shot what are thought of as 'iconic' images of the Lovings in 1965 (I''ve posted a couple below).

Nick Kroll (TV's The League) will play Bernard S. Cohen (the political figure who argued for the Lovings before the Supreme Court), Marton Csokas (The Equalizer) will play Sheriff Brooks (the man who arrested the Lovings), Jon Bass (Big Time in Hollywood, FL) will play Philip Hirschkop (another attorney who represented the Lovings in court) and Bill Camp (Black Mass) will play Frank Beazley (a police officer during the Loving's case), respectively.

Filming is taking place in Richmond, Virginia.

I know it's premature to even state this, but I think this project might get some awards buzz when it is eventually released. It's got a great filmmaker in Nichols (who's on the cusp hitting it big), an actor on a roll right now in Edgerton (who just starred in, produced, wrote and directed this past summer's hit, The Gift) and centers on a very sensitive civil rights topic in interracial marriage, which the Academy Awards voters always love.

I'll keep up on any future news regarding this project.

Source: The Wrap