The first trailer was released in March, giving fans their first look at Hardy, who plays gang leader Johnny, and Butler, who plays club member Benny, who is torn between his loyalty to the gang and his partner, Cathy (Comer).
Speaking of the inspiration behind the film, Nichols previously told Digital Spy that the movie is a “weird hybrid.”
“I’d say 70 percent of the dialogue is taken from the book, including Cathy’s lines, of course,” he explained. “It’s also not true to say that the story depicts a real person.
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“It’s a really strange hybrid between Danny and [Lyon, author] I visited these people in 1965 and that was it. That was all I had. So I had to make up everything that came before and after that.
“It’s really a balance of being a fictional character but one that has a lot of realism to it, taken directly from Danny’s books.”
So when can UK film fans see the film? Find out everything we know so far about The Bikers below.
Bike Riders release date
Mike Feist plays Danny Lyon in Bikers. Universal
The film is scheduled to be released in US and UK cinemas on Friday June 21st, 2024.
It was originally due to be released in UK cinemas on Friday 1 December 2023, but was later removed from the schedule and no new date has been announced.
Focus Features then picked up the film, giving it a summer release slot.
cast of bike riders
Bikeriders stars some of Hollywood’s biggest stars and will also feature some of our favourite British icons.
Emmy Award-winning Killing Eve actress Jodie Comer will play Cathy, while Tom Hardy, who was awarded a CBE in the 2018 Birthday Honours for his services to drama, will play Johnny.
During a recent appearance on The One Show, Comer explained that her character’s mannerisms remind her of her grandmother.
“There [were] “She has all the elements,” she says. “She’s very animated and a great storyteller.”
“She had a sense of humour and warmth and certain personality traits that I feel you find in a lot of women, particularly from Liverpool and the North.”
“So it was something I could lean into and feel close to in a world where a lot of things felt so far away from me.”
Joining them will be Oscar-nominated Austin Butler (Dune: Part II, Masters of the Air), who established himself as one of the most exciting actors of his generation with his leading role in last year’s Elvis, as well as Michael Shannon, a frequent collaborator with director Jeff Nichols.
See the full cast of The Bikers below:
Jodie Comer (Cathy), Austin Butler (Benny), Tom Hardy (Johnny), Michael Shannon (Zipko), Mike Feist (Danny Lion), Norman Reedus (Funny Sonny), Boyd Holbrook (Cal), Damon Herriman (Brucie), Beau Knapp (Wahoo), Emory Cohen (The Cockroach), Karl Glusman (Corky), Toby Wallace (The Kid), Happy Anderson (Big Jack)
Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve. BBC / Anna Molnar
What kind of film is The Bikeriders?
Based on Danny Lyons’ 1968 black-and-white photo book, “The Bikers” is set in 1965 Chicago and tells the story of a fictional Midwestern biker gang called the Vandals.
Austin Butler stars as Benny, a man with unconditional loyalty to the club, much like Johnny (Tom Hardy), the gang’s older member and founder.
Jodie Comer stars as Benny’s wife, Cathy, who fell in love with Benny as a young man and suffers the consequences of his involvement with the group.
The trailer reveals that the gang eventually gets caught up in criminal activity, and shows the violence that ensues.
Bike Riders Trailer
You can watch the official trailer for The Bikeriders below:
Biker Riders will be released in cinemas on Friday, June 21, 2024.
Find out more about the film or visit our TV and streaming guides to see what’s on. For more on TV’s biggest stars, listen to the Radio Times podcast.