Following up one of the year’s best films, Jeff Nichols‘ second picture of 2016, Loving, marks his first time taking on a real-life story: interracial couple Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, respectively), whose civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court. The first trailer has landed today ahead of a fall release by Focus Features.
We said in our review from the Cannes Film Festival, “Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton deliver remarkably nuanced performances in Loving, a late-’50s- / early-‘60s-set true life story of a mixed-race couple whose illegal marriage became a landmark case in the United States Supreme Court. Having tried his hand at the coming-of-age drama (Mud) and both small- and large-scale science fiction (Take Shelter and Midnight Special, respectfully), the increasingly prolific Jeff Nichols branches out once more here to the awards season period drama. This heartwarming and wonderfully refined film might not do a whole lot of things we haven’t seen before in the civil rights-era picture, but it does the familiar stuff with enormous care and control.”
Check out the full trailer for the film also starring Martin Csokas, Nick Kroll, and Michael Shannon:
From acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols, “Loving” celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry – and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since.
Loving premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and will be released in the U.S. by Focus Features on November 4.