After the relatively experimental movie that was 2013’s Drinking Buddies, writer-director Joe Swanberg has re-teamed with his leading man, Jake Johnson, to deliver Digging For Fire – a film characterized as a ‘dramedy’, which premiered to great reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in January of this year. The fact that The Orchard snapped up the distribution rights to the project shortly thereafter is surely testament to the quality of filmmaking to be found here – and general audiences will soon be able to judge for themselves, with the arrival of a new trailer ahead of its August release.
With an astonishingly all-star cast, Digging For Fire appears to be about the aftermath of insecurity. Tim (Jake Johnson) finds a rusted gun and an old bone on land near his family home. He becomes fixated upon them and intrigued by the story of how they came to be there. His wife, Lee (Rosemarie DeWitt) is less interested, and becomes frustrated with his obsession. Both spouses are clearly experiencing a mid-life crisis of sorts, and feeling insecure in their marital union, and so events conspire to have them head off in very different directions, for very different adventures – both searching for many things, other than the story behind the gun and the bone.
Star Jake Johnson is multi-tasking on Digging For Fire – producing and co-writing, in addition to his on-camera duties. He and DeWitt are joined by Mike Birbiglia (Orange Is The New Black), Orlando Bloom (The Lord Of The Rings franchise), Sam Elliott (Justified), Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect 2), Brie Larson (Don Jon), Ron Livingston (Boardwalk Empire), Melanie Lynskey (They Came Together), Chris Messina (The Mindy Project), Sam Rockwell (Moon), and Jenny Slate (Obvious Child), among others. Such an impressive collection of talent might indicate something very special indeed, however, the trailer somewhat misses that mark.
What we see from this preview footage of Digging For Fire is a group of very distinct characters who are almost caricatures of stock ‘types’ – each of whom wield undue influence over two people whose connection to each other is in a state of vulnerability. Watching the trailer is like watching two wounded, confused beings wander away from each other, only to be set upon – individually – by the vultures from Ice Age: The Meltdown.
Will the Sundance reviews prove correct in their praise of Digging For Fire? All will be revealed as it enjoys a limited release on August 21st 2015, before a VOD release on August 25th 2015.