(Updated 03/24/2024)
ELVIS turned Austin Butler into a movie star, and DUNE: PART II built on that foundation. Now there's another new Austin Butler movie coming up to follow hot on the heels of the DUNE sequel. THE BIKERIDERS comes from filmmaker Jeff Nichols, who created acclaimed indies like TAKE SHELTER and MUD.
THE BIKERIDERS follows a midwestern motorcycle club as it slides into criminal activity. Alongside Butler is a great cast led by Tom Hardy. Here's everything we know about THE BIKERIDERS, including the latest trailer.
What Is The Bikeriders Release Date?
Focus Features will release THE BIKERIDERS in movie theaters on June 21, 2024.
Watch the New Trailer for The Bikeriders
Thanks in part to the Rolling Stones song, this trailer for THE BIKERIDERS makes it look like the motorcycle gang version of GOODFELLAS. Tom Hardy has a real Robert De Niro thing going on, too. And that's not a problem! The movie looks terrific.
What's the Bikeriders Trailer Song?
That trailer song is "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" by the Rolling Stones. It was originally released in 1973 on the album "Goat's Head Soup." It was the second single from the album. The lyrics are inspired by stories of street crime, making it a thematically good choice for the trailer in addition to being a bangin' track that works well with the action.
The Bikeriders Is Based on a Landmark Book
Jeff Nichols has written most of his movies based on original ideas, but THE BIKERIDERS has a very specific inspiration. Nichols was inspired by a book of the same name, by photographer Danny Lyon. Originally published in the late 1960s, "The Bikeriders" was a unique form of journalism that revealed the dynamics of one motorcycle gang.
The book "explores firsthand the stories and personalities of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club. This journal-size volume features original black-and-white photographs and transcribed interviews by Lyon, made from 1963 to 1967, when he was a member of the Outlaws gang."
So while Nichols has adapted the book to film, and probably added his own material, there's a well-informed first-hand biker perspective at the core of the script.
Who's in the Cast of The Bikeriders?
We've mentioned Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy. Right there, THE BIKERIDERS has a pairing we can't wait to see. It's good to see Hardy back on the big screen, too. He's been busy with television, so aside from the VENOM movies we haven't seen too many big movies featuring Hardy since Christopher Nolan's DUNKIRK in 2017.
The movie also features Boyd Holbrook, who seems like he was born to play a biker gang member, and Jodie Comer and Norman Reedus. And it wouldn't be a Jeff Nichols movie without Michael Shannon, who has been in all of the filmmakers projects to date.
The Bikeriders Is a Dream Project for Jeff Nichols
Jeff Nichols started talking in public about making a motorcycle movie at least ten years ago. In 2018, he told Slashfilm, "I'm still emailing with the author of the book that inspired it, and I still think about it all the time. In fact, I mentioned it in a bar in Memphis when we were shooting this [short film], and Mike was sitting next to me, and he was like, "You've been talking about that damn idea for so long. You're never gonna make that s***." I'm like, "No, I am. It's a great idea.""
In the same interview, Nichols mentioned being intimidated by "Sons of Anarchy" and working out his approach to the material. "It's this weird thing where I don't want to just glorify it," he said, "but at the same time, there's something so glorious about what they're doing, and beautiful and free. Like all of those things ... And they're not affectations, they're real. All the things that biker culture ... And what I'm talking about making a movie about is, it's transition from this golden age of where it was less criminal and it was more just a place for outsiders to gather, but then how that kind of morphed and turned into somewhat more of a criminal organization."
Between the filmmaker's long-simmering interest in the material, the depth of the original book and the strength of the cast, THE BIKERIDERS is high on our list of year-end movies.
THE BIKERIDERS opens on June 21.
All images courtesy of Focus Features.