More than two months after being available for rent on Prime Video and ZEE5 (OTTplay Premium), The Bikeriders is gearing up for its full-fledged OTT release. Yes, the period crime drama will begin streaming on JioCinema beginning October 21, 2024. Jeff Nichols helmed and wrote The Bikeriders, which features Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman, Beau Knapp, Emory Cohen, Karl Glusman, Toby Wallace, and Norman Reedus.

The Bikeriders plot overview

The storyline follows the exploits of the Vandals Motorcycle Club, a made-up offshoot of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, and is based on Danny Lyon's photobook of the same name. The Bikeriders depicts a period of cultural and personal upheaval in the US. The mysterious Johnny (Hardy) leads the Midwestern motorcycle group the Vandals, and after an accidental meeting at a local pub, the strong-willed Kathy (Comer) finds herself irresistibly drawn to Benny (Butler). The club, like the nation surrounding it, starts to change, going from a safe haven for local outsiders to a seedy underworld of violence, and Benny has to decide between his allegiance to the club and his love for Kathy.

On August 31, 2023, The Bikeriders had its world premiere at the 50th Telluride Film Festival. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike caused 20th Century Studios to postpone the film's theatrical release in the US until December 1, 2023. Focus Features eventually purchased the film's rights from producer New Regency. Worldwide, the film made more than $35 million and was well-received.

Director's inspiration and development

Nichols, director of The Bikeriders, read Lyon's picture book of the same name in 2003. The book's Vandals MC serves as the model for the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. Faist plays Lyon's role in the movie. On the set of every collaboration with Shannon—who has starred in all of Nichols' films—since 2004, he joked that he had been talking about that damn idea for so long. In 2018, while filming the short film Long Way Back Home, Nichols made the same comment. By 2022, the filmmaker had penned the script based on his initial plot concept, and New Regency finalised the production deal. The film cast Hardy, Comer, and Butler and officially revealed Nichols as the director in August 2022.

Driver, who co-starred with Comer in The Last Duel (2021), and Nichols' experience on two awards panels that recognised her work in the one-woman Broadway show Prima Facie impressed Driver enough for him to cast Comer. During their initial meeting at Hardy's London house, he admitted to being somewhat inebriated before attending a West End performance of Comer's Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter Theatre.

On-set incidents and training

Butler revealed in an on-set motorbike accident that they were doing a night shoot when he hit a patch of wet leaves, falling, but thankfully landing on his feet. For the film, most of the performers, except for Shannon and a few others, received training in this technique.

The film's cinematographer was Adam Stone, while David Wingo wrote the score in post-production.

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