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Netflix Adapts Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams Starring Joel Edgerton: Details and Teaser
- TalkTeaV
- Sep 4
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 13
A quiet story of love and loss in early 20th-century America
Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier in Train Dreams 2025: Courtesy of Netflix
Train Dreams will premiere in select theaters on November 7 before arriving on Netflix on November 21. Directed by Clint Bentley and adapted from Denis Johnson’s celebrated novella, the film stars Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker whose life unfolds against the backdrop of a rapidly changing America.
Set in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, the story follows Robert from his childhood as an orphan through his years building railroads, falling in love, and starting a family with his wife Gladys, played by Felicity Jones. As work pulls him away and tragedy strikes, Robert’s reflections on family, nature, and the forces of industrialization shape the heart of the film.
“The story tells me that life is really worth living, despite some of the hardships through Robert; there was this sense that human beings are incredibly durable and incredibly resilient,” said actor Joel Edgerton.
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“Train Dreams is the moving portrait of a man’s inner and outer journeys,” Netflix shared in its announcement. The screenplay was written by Bentley and Greg Kwedar, who recently collaborated on Sing Sing. The cast also includes William H. Macy, Kerry Condon, Nathaniel Arcand, Clifton Collins Jr., John Diehl, and Paul Schneider, with narration by Will Patton.
Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier and William H. Macy as Arn Peeples in Train Dreams 2025: Courtesy of Netflix
Director Bentley stated, “The thing about it is what that grief does to you is not all bad. That’s a really difficult thing to reconcile with. You would’ve never wanted the thing to happen that caused the grief, and yet there’s some things that come from it that just change you as a person.”
Instead of describing Bentley’s work in lofty terms, early talk around the film suggests it takes a personal story and places it right inside a bigger moment in American history. Robert’s quiet search for meaning is set against the push and pull of nature and modernization. And if you’ve read Johnson’s novella, it seems the film keeps much of that same quiet power while giving it a more cinematic sweep.
Train Dreams Official Teaser Courtesy of Netflix
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