The Daily Wire dropped its third and final trailer for its upcoming thriller “Shut In” Tuesday, announcing that the film will debut on February 10 on its streaming service. Voltage Pictures is heading up details on international releases, planned for later this year.
The conservative media company’s first original movie stars Rainey Qualley, who previously appeared in “Ocean’s 8” and “Mad Men,” as a young, single mother who draws on faith in her struggle against drug addiction. Indie film icon Vincent Gallo (“Buffalo 66,” “Arizona Dream”) co-stars as the violent ex holding her and her two children hostage. DJ Caruso, who previously helmed critically-acclaimed film noirs like “Disturbia” as well as mainstream blockbusters like Vin Diesel’s “XXX: Return of Xander Cage,” directs.
Shot around Nashville and Watertown, Tennessee, Caruso has called “Shut In” a “brilliant script” and “fiercely independent film.” In August, he revealed he that was thankful for the artistic liberty The Daily Wire provided him while working on the project, saying, “I was given the creative freedom to craft a film that features a flawed, but graceful character that must fight addiction, and dire circumstances to find light in a very dark place.”
The conservative outlet’s ability to assemble a team with substantial mainstream resumés seemed to impress the entertainment media when the project was first announced. “Conservative media company The Daily Wire is seemingly serious about growing its film and TV ambitions,” Deadline’s international editor Andreas Wiseman noted at the time. And Sonny Bunch, Washington Post columnist and culture editor for The Bulwark, said, “D.J. Caruso is a good director and this is based on a very hot Black List script. Curious to see it.”
“Shut In” marks the third collaboration between The Daily Wire and Bonfire Legend producers Dallas Sonnier and Amanda Presmyk (Bone Tomahawk). Their first project together, “Run Hide Fight,” scored 300,000 viewers during its live premiere in January 2021 and a 93% positive audience rating on the review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes.
Sonnier said he discovered the screenplay by Melanie Toast on the Black List website, and first attached Jason Bateman to direct. But after that project fell apart in pre-production, he opted to take it to Daily Wire co-founders Ben Shapiro, Jeremy Boreing, and Caleb Robinson, who signed on to executive produce.
In a statement to The Daily Wire last year, Sonnier shared that his company “specifically took this movie away from New Line Cinema” with the aim of making it exclusively available to The Daily Wire’s members.
“With their support, we are inspired to produce the best movies while Big Hollywood self-implodes. We are just getting started, and have many more surprises in store, stay tuned!” he said.