In the film, Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland portray a pair of teenagers who encounter the titular Mud (Matthew McConaughey), a fugitive hiding on a small island, and agree to help him evade his pursuers.
Ellis and Neckbone, two teenage boys living near DeWitt, Arkansas, are excited to find an abandoned boat on a small island in the Mississippi River.
Mud, a disheveled but charismatic vagrant, tells the boys he grew up nearby and asks for some food, promising them the boat in exchange once he is gone.
Mud is waiting for his girlfriend Juniper, whom he describes as beautiful, with distinctive nightingale tattoos on her hands.
Mud explains that he killed a man who had gotten Juniper pregnant and pushed her down a flight of stairs, causing her to lose the child.
Ellis and Neck find her flirting with other men at a nearby bar and tell Mud what has happened.
Juniper tells Ellis that she loves Mud, but that he is a born liar and she cannot spend the rest of her life following his itinerant lifestyle.
Recognizing Mud, one of the hospital employees calls the police, who tip off Carver and his father King.
Evading his pursuers, Mud gets back to the island where he and Neckbone launch the repaired boat into the water.
Tom, a former Marine marksman, fires from his boat using his old sniper rifle, killing several attackers from across the river.
While still a student, Nichols began developing the story, inspired by Mark Twain's works, including the 1876 novel Tom Sawyer.
He also sought to reflect on the theme of love: "I wanted to capture a point in my life in high school when I had crushes on girls and it totally broke my heart and it was devastating.
[9] For the teenage role of Neckbone, over 2,000 boys auditioned, and 15-year-old Jacob Lofland from Yell County, Arkansas, was cast.
"[10] Nichols said about filming in parts of Southeast Arkansas, "These places and people have such a particular accent and culture, and they're quickly getting homogenized.
Debruge said the film was reminiscent of the novel Huckleberry Finn: "It so elegantly addresses what masculinity and family really mean in the heartland."
He said the Mississippi River in Mud was "a mythic backdrop... in which old values struggle against stronger modern forces in the world".
[16] After its Cannes premiere, no distributor immediately purchased rights to release the film in the United States.
[17] By August 2012, Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions acquired rights to distribute Mud in the United States.
[1] In January 2013, Mud screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, and the Austin American-Statesman reported, "His modern take on Mark Twain played to an enthusiastic sold-out crowd of more than 500 people.
The film ended up earning $21,590,086 in North America and $11,023,087 in other markets for a worldwide total of $32,613,173, against a $10 million budget.
The site's critical consensus reads, "Bolstered by a strong performance from Matthew McConaughey in the title role, Mud offers an engaging Southern drama that manages to stay sweet and heartwarming without being sappy.