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Train Dreams is an upcoming drama film directed by Clint Bentley from a script he co-wrote with Greg Kwedar. It premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and will soon premiere on Netflix.
The film is an adaptation of Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella set in the dawn of the twentieth century. It centers on railroad laborer Robert Grainier, set against the backdrop of the American West's wilderness. Before its Sundance premiere, Bentley revealed that the film was shot mainly in Washington state, where most of its events take place.
Joel Edgerton leads the cast, which also includes Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, William H. Macy, Nathaniel Arcand, Alfred Hsing, and more. The film, produced by Black Bear Pictures and Kamala Films, will be out in select theaters and on Netflix in the late spring of 2025.
When is Train Dreams releasing on Netflix?
Train Dreams will premiere on Netflix on November 21, 2025, and will also be released in select theaters. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2025, where it earned an overwhelmingly positive reception. It currently has a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 36 reviews and an 85% Metacritic rating.
Train Dreams' producers include Marissa McMahon, Ashley Schlaifer, Michael Heimler, William Janowitz, and Teddy Schwarzman. Edgerton, Kwedar, John Friedberg, and Scott Hinckley are its executive producers.
What is Train Dreams about?
Train Dreams is a sweeping, lyrical drama about a logger and a railroad worker in the age of the locomotive in rapidly changing America. Per IMDb, its official logline reads:
"Robert Grainer, an average man living in extraordinary times, worked as a day laborer in the American West at the beginning of the 20th century. Battered by the death of his family, he struggles to adjust to this new environment."
During a conversation with Tudum, Clint Bentley revealed how he envisioned the Grainer's journey of self-exploration — of finding beauty and brutality in the woods of the American West. He said,
“It’s a really special story and it feels very unique in that it is just about this one person’s life. This very simple life. Robert Grainier doesn’t do anything that really alters the course of history — he doesn’t fight in some great battle or create some invention that changes people’s lives, and yet he lives a very deep and rich life.”
Train Dreams is Bentley's sophomore feature film after 2021's Jockey, which revolved around an aging professional horse rider. Upon its release, it was named one of the best independent films of 2021 by the National Board of Review USA. Since then, Bentley has co-written the Oscar-nominated screenplay of Kwedar's poignant prison drama Sing Sing (2023).
The cast of Train Dreams
The cast of the Sundance hit Train Dreams includes:
- Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier
- Felicity Jones as Gladys Grainier
- Kerry Condon as Claire, a forestry services worker
- William H. Macy as Arn Peeples, an explosives expert
- Clifton Collins Jr. as Boomer
- Nathaniel Arcand as Ignatius Jack, a storekeeper, and Robert's friend
- Alfred Hsing as Fu Sheng
- Paul Schneider as Apostle Frank, a talkative logger
- Chuck Tucker as a quiet logger
- John Diehl as Billy, an old logger
- Will Patton as the voice of Narrator
- Sean San Jose Carnival Barker
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Train Dreams will be released on Netflix on November 21, 2025.
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