Promised Land | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Gus Van Sant |
Screenplay by | |
Story by | Dave Eggers |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Linus Sandgren |
Edited by | Billy Rich |
Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Focus Features |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 106 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $15 million[1][2] |
Box office | $12.3 million[2] |
Promised Land is a 2012 American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, John Krasinski, Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt and Hal Holbrook. The screenplay by Damon and Krasinski is based on a story by Dave Eggers. Promised Land follows two petroleum landmen who visit a rural Pennsylvania town in an attempt to buy drilling rights from the local residents.
Damon also produced the film with Krasinski and Chris Moore, and was originally attached to direct, but was replaced by Van Sant. Filming took place mainly in Pittsburgh from early to mid-2012. During filming and afterward, the film's highlighting of the resource extraction process hydraulic fracturing, known as "fracking," emerged as a topic of debate.
The film had a limited release in the United States on December 28, 2012 and followed with a nationwide expansion on January 4, 2013. The film had its international premiere and received Special Mention Award at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2013. It received mixed reviews from critics, although the National Board of Review named it one of the top ten films of 2012, and was a box office bomb, grossing just $8 million against a $15 million budget.