"Train Dreams" Teaser Trailer: Joel Edgerton Leads a Story of Loss and Labor in Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar’s Poetic Adaptation of Denis Johnson’s Novella
Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, and William H. Macy star in this haunting tale of an American railroad worker reckoning with tragedy, change, and the myth of progress in 1920s America.
Filmmaking duo Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar have a unique collaborative partnership in which they’ve worked on each other’s films collectively, while also maintaining visual control of their own work. For instance, Bentley directed the acclaimed 2021 indie gem Jockey, offering an unflinching look at an aging horse rider (starring Clifton Collins Jr.) grappling with his legacy. Meanwhile, Kwedar helmed 2023’s crowd-pleasing Oscar nominee Sing Sing, a striking prison story inspired by a real-life convict theater program (led by Colman Domingo, in an Oscar-nominated performance) that felt more like a fly-on-the-wall documentary than a scripted narrative.
Both filmmakers have been deeply involved in each other’s projects—co-writing and co-producing each film—yet they’ve preserved their individualities as directors. It makes for a filmmaking duo like no other, where trading off directorial duties doesn’t dilute their artistic identities but rather sharpens them.
What’s more interesting is that Bentley and Kwedar may have quietly rewritten the playbook on how to approach making an indie film, where financial hurdles are just as present and pressing as creative ones. With Sing Sing, the duo implemented an unconventional financial model in which the cast and crew agreed to be paid the same daily salary in exchange for a shared percentage of the film’s equity.
This not only kept the production budget lean, but it also aligned everyone on the same footing, ensuring that any future success would be shared equally among those in the cast and crew who helped bring the film to life. In an era where the indie film market has been dwindling with the rise of streaming, it’s good to know that filmmakers like Bentley and Kwedar are coming up with new ways to keep the spirit (and sustainability) of independent cinema alive.
Now, we don’t know what kind of deal was constructed for Bentley and Kwedar’s latest project, Train Dreams, especially as it’s set to debut later this year as a Netflix exclusive. But after what many saw as an insufficient theatrical rollout by A24 for Sing Sing (despite its eventual Oscar nomination and subsequent re-release), it’s not all that surprising that Bentley and Kwedar would want to give Netflix a try and see what the streaming giant can offer to a pair of indie mainstays.
And who knows? With Netflix still chasing that elusive one movie to finally catapult them to a Best Picture win on Oscar night, Train Dreams might just be their unexpected contender. At least from the looks of the film’s first official teaser trailer, it appears to be visually stunning—evoking the kind of poetic Americana that Oscar voters are drawn to.
Featuring a stellar ensemble cast led by Joel Edgerton (Loving), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Kerry Condon (F1), and William H. Macy (Fargo), Train Dreams is based on author Denis Johnson's acclaimed 2011 novella of the same name.
In the upcoming film, Edgerton portrays Robert Grainier, a 1920s American logger and railroad laborer whose work forces him to leave his wife and child for long stretches at a time. With back-breaking labor and a bruised, beat-up body, Robert watches his life slip past him, leaving him to wonder if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. But as he endures a devastating family tragedy and bears witness to the brutal discrimination faced by his fellow workers—particularly Chinese immigrants—Robert begins to question America’s promise of a better future... or whether that train has already left the station.
Directed by Clint Bentley and co-adapted by Bentley and Greg Kwedar, Train Dreams will be opening in select theaters November 7th before landing on Netflix November 21st.
Official Synopsis:
Based on Denis Johnson’s beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century.
From the Academy award nominated co-writers of Sing Sing. Starring Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, with Kerry Condon and William H. Macy. Train Dreams, in select theaters this fall and on Netflix November 21.
