Scoot McNairy likes to get things done. That’s his general attitude toward life and filmmaking. The indie actor most recently peeked his head out into pop culture awareness with a great photoshop job in In Search of a Midnight Kiss and in Gareth Edwards’s Monsters. Off-kilter romance with or without giant aliens seem to be his thing. Now, McNairy could possibly be jumping in feet first into that mainstream awareness. According to Variety and Deadline Burbank, the actor has joined Brad Pitt for Cogan’s Trade (being directed by Andrew Dominik). He’s also up for co-starring roles in Prometheus: Not an Alien Prequel (as a love interest for Noomi Rapace’s character) and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Good thing he likes to get things done. This is great news for a strong talent and for audiences that like talented actors. It’s akin to Jeremy Renner making it to major casting lists, although it’s not quite as big as strapping on superhero gear (yet). It’s always nice to see casting directors considering/hiring actors instead of just slapping hollow, pretty faces into everything.

Gareth Edwards is a funny man. You might not know that just from seeing his feature film debut Monsters. You also might not know it from the things he had to do to get the film made. Edwards speaks with the casual tone of a seasoned pro, and after seeing heads on spikes, making his actors eat ants, and making a CGI-heavy film with almost no money, he might just be a few years ahead of his own resume. I got the chance to speak with Edwards, whose film comes out Friday October 29th, and we spoke about the advice he has for aspiring filmmakers, the challenges of shooting in South America and why the worst day of his life happened during production.

The tone of the thing may oversell the giant monster movie aspect of what is essentially an unscripted drama taking place in the stomping grounds of the extra-terrestrials who have now taken up residence in Northern Mexico, but I realize as I write that sentence that it stills seems incredibly cool. The FSR team got to see Gareth Edwards’s Monsters when it hit Austin for SXSW. The reactions were mixed, but I honestly loved the film. It’s got a creativity and low-budget bargaining that makes it look like a million bucks (for much less than a million bucks). Plus, the lead actors (Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able) have the burden of carrying the entire film. Fortunately, they’re charismatic enough to do it. This first trailer doesn’t give much of an eye into that world, but it should do a bit to tease you with the things that go boom in the night.

If you spent any time checking out our SXSW coverage, you probably noticed a few pieces on Monsters, the romance/horror/alien-love-making-movie-that-isn’t-Splice movie from director Gareth Edwards. You probably also noticed that, like most movies coming out of festivals, there wasn’t a release date for you to hang your excitement on. Without it, your excitement just sat there in the air like a man waiting for a bus in the rain. Fortunately for your excitement, he can rejoice, because his metaphorical bus has arrived.

Take Garreth Edwards’ Monsters. On the surface, it’s a good movie. But when we pull back a few layers and see what went into this film, it’s both good and very interesting. Interesting, for what it is.

Just over a year ago, we talked to producer/actor Scoot McNairy about an interesting science fiction film shot without a script. A mumblecore action movie, if you will. Today, we get to preview that exact movie as part of our look ahead to this year’s SX Fantastic line-up.

We got a chance to talk to the star of In Search of a Midnight Kiss and, now, Independent Spirit Award Winner Scoot McNairy about love and loss in Los Angeles.