''Trucker'' is a 2008

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

by Plum Pictures written and directed by James Mottern, and produced by Scott Hanson, Galt Niederhoffer,

Celine Rattray Celine Rattray (born 1975) is an English film producer who co-founded the production company Maven Pictures. In 2010, she won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for '' The Kids Are All Right''. In 2020, she and Trudie Styl ...

and Daniela Taplin Lundberg. It stars

Michelle Monaghan Michelle Lynn Monaghan ( ; born March 23, 1976) is an American actress, best known for her starring roles in ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' (2005), ''Gone Baby Gone'' (2007), ''Made of Honor'' (2008), ''Eagle Eye'' (2008), ''Trucker'' (2008), ''Source ...

Nathan Fillion Nathan Fillion (; born March 27, 1971) is a Canadian-American actor. He played the leading roles of Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds on '' Firefly'' and its film continuation '' Serenity'', and Richard Castle on '' Castle''. , he was starring as J ...

and

Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor and producer who has worked in film and on television. He had supporting roles in the 1990s in such box office hits as ''Demolition Man'' (1993), ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), ...

Plot

Diane Ford (

) is a long-haul truck driver. She spends her off time having

one-night stand A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...

s and drinking with her married neighbor, Runner (

), who's in love with her. Her routine life is upset when her ex-husband Len (

) sends their 11-year-old son Peter (

Jimmy Bennett James Michael Bennett (born February 9, 1996) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as a child actor in '' Daddy Day Care'', ''Hostage'', '' The Amityville Horror'', ''Poseidon'', '' Evan Almighty'', ''Orphan'', ''Shorts'', and as yo ...

) to stay with her while he is fighting against cancer.

Cast

as Diane Ford *

as Runner *

as Leonard "Len" Bonner *

Joey Lauren Adams Joey Lauren Adams (born January 9, 1968) is an American actress and director. Adams starred in ''Chasing Amy'', for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and played smaller role ...

as Jenny Bell *

as Peter Bonner *

Bryce Johnson Bryce Owen Johnson (born April 18, 1977) is an American actor. Early life Johnson born in Reno, Nevada. He has an older brother, Brendon, and a younger brother, Brett. He moved to Denver, Colorado, at the age of five. He graduated from high sch ...

as Rick *

Matthew Lawrence Matthew William Lawrence (born February 11, 1980) is an American actor and singer, known for his roles in ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' and ''Boy Meets World''. Lawrence also starred in the series '' Brotherly Love'' with his real-life brothers Joey and An ...

as Scott * Brandon Hanson as Tom * Maya McLaughlin as Molly * Ricky Ellison as Robert *

Johnny Simmons Johnny Simmons (born November 28, 1986) is an American former actor. He is known for his roles as Dylan Baxter in ''Evan Almighty'' (2007), Chip Dove in ''Jennifer's Body'' (2009), "Young Neil" Nordegraf in '' Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'' (2010) ...

as Teenager 1 * Stephen Sowan as Teenager 2 * Dennis Hayden as Trucker *

Mika Boorem Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

as Young Woman * Franklin Dennis Jones as Jonnie * Amad Jackson as Doctor

Production

The film was shot on location in Hawthorne, CA, Bloomington, CA, and

Mira Loma, CA Mira Loma (Spanish for "Hill View"), now officially part of Jurupa Valley, was a census-designated place (CDP) in Riverside County, California, United States. Its population was 21,930 in the 2010 census, up from 17,617 in the 2000 census. Mira L ...

. Other portions of the film were shot in the

Coachella Valley , map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg , map_caption = Coachella Valley , location = California, United States , coordinates = , width = , boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacint ...

, California. �
Download
( Downloadable PDF file) ''Trucker'' had a reported budget of under $1.5 million. Actress

earned her

commercial driver's license A commercial driver's license (CDL) is a driver's license required in the United States to operate large and heavy vehicles (including trucks, buses, and trailers) or a vehicle of any size that transports hazardous materials or more than 15 p ...

so she could drive a

semi-trailer truck A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, (or semi, eighteen-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer or, by synecdoche, a semitrailer) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer ...

for her role; the movie was shot using authentic footage of her doing so.

Reception

, the film holds a 59% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 37 reviews with an average rating of 5.84 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Excellent performances by Michelle Monaghan and Nathan Fillion and keenly-observed details of small-town life elevate this otherwise predictable and inconsistent melodrama."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

chose it as one of his top ten independent films for 2009.

Awards

List of awards for the film:Official "Trucker" Theatrical Site
/ref> * Michelle Monaghan – Excellence in Acting Award – Vail Film Festival * Winner – Best Narrative Feature Film –

Woods Hole Film Festival The Woods Hole Film Festival was founded in 1991 by Judith Laster and Kate Davis. Since its foundation, the festival has grown from a one-day invitational event to an eight-day event with films submitted from around the world. The Festival is hel ...

* Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival * Official Selection Austin Film Festival * Official Selection Oxford Film Festival * Official Selection Florida Film Festival * Official Selection Vail Film Festival * San Diego Film Critics: Best Actress (Michelle Monaghan)

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, id=1087527, title=Trucker 2008 films 2008 drama films American drama films Films set in California Films shot in California Hawthorne, California American independent films Trucker films 2008 independent films 2008 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films