The Peanut Butter Falcon - My Outer Banks Home

Editor’s Note: The Peanut Butter Falcon opened across the country in mid-August to glowing reviews. Movie makers Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz even participated in some Q&A following the playing of the movie here on the Outer Banks. We, at My Outer Banks Home, are very pleased and proud to present to you the interview that Rebecca Orr conducted prior to their premiere.

There is palpable power in the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon. The power of self-actualization, determination, and heart. Passion is energy, and it gives you power. Power to move your world forward by sheer will, determination, and belief, as a force of human nature.

I have a little sign on my desk that resonates within me: “ Follow your passion, follow your dreams, but most of all, follow your heart.” The Peanut Butter Falcon, a new movie released in August, has that heart factor all over it. Both in its story and in the story of its creation. It is a tale of the self-actualization of believing in, and following your dreams. Pushing on even though everything tells you “no!” Then going past that and even further, because you know it rings true for you.

It’s the love, support, and help from friends and family of your choosing. It’s not just the hand of people you were dealt in life. There’s more that makes a dream’s journey worth your greatest effort to achieve. So it is for Zak (Zack Gottsagen), the main character of this tale, as well as for its co-writers/directors, Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz. In both cases, their passions are the energy which creates the film’s power.

A love story to the Outer Banks

The Peanut Butter Falcon is set in the Southeast and partially filmed locally on the Outer Banks. It’s about a 22 year old with Down Syndrome named Zak. Zak’s family has abandoned him to a nursing home of old folks. Zak’s dream, his passion, is to become a professional wrestler and study with his idol, “The Salt Water Redneck.” Zak has two failed escape attempts from the home. He is then labeled as a flight risk by his care giver, Eleanor. Undaunted, and with the help of his cantankerous roommate, Carl, Zak and Carl instigate an elaborate escape plan to launch Zak’s journey to his wrestling dream. Zak ventures forth on his quest wearing only his underwear. His heart and his purpose are geared to battle the world. Eleanor, sets off to find Zak and to bring him back, turning him into a hunted man.

Meanwhile, Tyler, a hard luck tidewater fisherman, has been in a downward spiral since the death of his brother. He destroys some fishing equipment of local crabber Duncan. Now Tyler goes on the lam with Duncan out for blood and on his trail. By chance, the intrepid pair of Zak and Tyler meet and decide to flee together. The inevitability of a bond begins to form between the two. The outlaw Tyler promises to get Zak to his destination, to realize his dream, no matter what. A rafting trip worthy of Huck Finn ensues. It’s a buddy movie as if Mark Twain had written Rainman.