Kirsten Dunst Joins Jeff Nichols' 'Midnight Special'

I just got out of a screening of Lee Daniels' The Butler, which amongst about a thousand random cameos, featured a hangdog performance by John Cusack as Richard Nixon. Without giving away anything, it's pretty distracting, and it made me think of other unconventional choices to play Nixon, which sent me back to the Kirsten Dunst comedy, Dick, which had Dan Hedaya as "Tricky Dick" Nixon. Want to feel really old? That film was fourteen years ago (and had a cast to die for) and still holds up as one of Dunst's best. But with Melancholia, Bachelorette, and Upside Down, she's on a heck of a run, and it's about to get even better.

Dunst has joined sci-fi film Midnight Special, the latest from Take Shelter and Mud helmer Jeff Nichols. Starring his usual collaborator Michael Shannon, along with Joel Edgerton, the film's plot has been kept under wraps until now, with Deadline revealing the plot centers on "a father and his 8-year-old go on the run when dad realizes the boy has some kind of special powers." It's unclear at this point who is taking what role, or when production is set to begin. Presumably an actor for the child role will be found soon.

As if it's not exciting enough to see Nichols working with Warner Bros. on a major project such as this, it's in a new genre for him and the cast is superb. Hopefully we'll see Midnight Special some time in 2014. Dunst will be seen next opposite Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Isaac in The Two Faces of January, and will make a cameo as herself in Anchorman 2.