Trivia / Midnight Special

• Acclaimed Flop: Despite strong reviews, the film only made a little over $6 million on its $18 million budget.
• Dawson Casting: Alton is said to be eight years old. Jaeden Martell had just turned eleven at the time of production.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Jaeden Martell has blond hair naturally but becomes brunette to play Alton.
• Fake American: Australian Joel Edgerton plays the American Lucas.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Directing example. Jeff Nichols's previous filmography was a series of gritty dramas, as opposed to the more sci-fi tone of this one.
  • Michael Shannon, usually some kind of crazed authoritative figure, as a father desperate to keep his son safe.
  • To a lesser extent, Kirsten Dunst, usually some form of Everyone Loves Blondes as a demure and concerned mother. She even wore no makeup for the role.
• Production Posse:
  • Jeff Nichols's fourth movie with Michael Shannon. It's also the eighth project Shannon has done with Paul Sparks.
  • Jeff Nichols also features Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton and Bill Camp in Loving (2016).
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Jeff Nichols's brother Scott Everett Nichols plays an FBI investigator.
  • His other brother Ben is in the band Lucero, who play the title song in the end credits.
• Screwed by the Network: The film's release date went from November 2015 to March 2016, the same month as WB's mega budget tent-pole Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. A slow roll out on its limited release plus Warner Bros focusing more of its distribution/marketing efforts on BVS might have been the cause of why the film didn't do so well box office wise.
• What Could Have Been: Jeff Nichols considered making the film independently, as he wanted to avoid Executive Meddling. Warner Bros agreed to finance the movie due to the low budget, and he had no need to consider other options.