Director and screenwriter Tyler Nilson grew up in Colington.
For good reason Tyler Nilson and Mike Schwartz’s film about a Downs syndrome man dreaming of being professional wrestler is getting a lot of buzz. Colington native Nilson’s short film, The Moped Diaries (watch HERE), shot on the Outer Banks helped move him into the mainstream. It looks as though he’s here to stay with The Peanut Butter Falcon, as this article in Vanity Fair by Nicole Sperling tells it.
The Peanut Butter Falcon is the movie Shia LaBeouf was filming when he was arrested for public drunkenness in Savannah, Georgia, in 2017—and that may be the least interesting thing about it. The film, which won a South by Southwest Film Festival audience award back in March and will bow in theaters August 9, comes from two unknowns: Tyler Nilson and Mike Schwartz, who spent five years on a project designed to give their friend with Down syndrome, Zack Gottsagen, who was 32 at the time of filming, the chance to fulfill his dream of becoming a movie star.
With no real Hollywood connections, the duo relied on the kindness of strangers, some Instagram love, and their unrelenting will to get it done. The result is a charming tale about finding family in the unlikeliest of places, centered on Gottsagen’s character, Zak—an obsessive wrestling fan who runs away from his assisted living home and befriends an outlaw (LaBeouf) who aides him in his pursuit to become a famous wrestler.
Read the complete story in Vanity Fair, click here.