{{short description|2001 film by Jeff Daniels}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Escanaba in da Moonlight | image = Escanaba in da moonlight.JPG | caption = Film poster | director = Jeff Daniels | writer = Jeff Daniels | based_on = {{Based on|''Escanaba in da Moonlight''|Jeff Daniels}} | producer = Tom Spiroff | starring = {{Plainlist| * Jeff Daniels * Harve Presnell * Kimberly Norris Guerrero * Joey Albright * Randall Godwin * Wayne David Parker }} | cinematography = Richard Brauer | editing = Robert Tomlinson | music = Alto Reed | studio = Purple Rose Films | released = {{Film date|2001|01|26}} | runtime = 91 minutes | country = United States | language = English }} '''''Escanaba in da Moonlight''''' is a 2001 American comedy film written, directed, and starring Jeff Daniels. It is a comedy about hunting and hunting traditions and is set (and filmed) in the Escanaba, Michigan area. The film uses Upper Peninsula language and slang. The movie is the film adaptation of the play of the same name, which premiered at Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, Michigan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic stages Jeff Daniels-written comedy 'Escanaba' {{!}} The Spokesman-Review |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/apr/09/jeff-and-jimmers/ |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=www.spokesman.com}}</ref>
==Plot== Reuben Soady (Daniels) goes to the hunting camp cottage, otherwise known as deer camp, with his father Albert (played by Harve Presnell), brother Remnar (Joey Albright) and Jimmy "The Jimmer" Negamanee from Menominee (Wayne David Parker). If Reuben, now 43, doesn't manage to shoot a buck by the end of the season, he will become the oldest Soady in recorded history not to have achieved this task, a taboo that leads people in the community to believe he is jinxed.
Reuben breaks with tradition, taking advice from his Native American wife Wolf Moon Dance (Kimberly Norris Guerrero), who offers him spiritual remedies involving a drink made with moose testicles and scenting himself with porcupine urine to protect him from evil spirits and attract his prey to him. After various unexplainable phenomena, they meet a DNR officer, Tom T. Treado (Randall Godwin), who claims to have literally seen God on the ridge.
At various times, Reuben, Jimmer, and ranger Tom all get possessed by spirits. Eventually, Reuben runs out into the cold wearing only his long underwear and a hat, and finds himself face-to-face with the ghost of his dead great-grandfather Alphonse Soady, who guides him to shooting a buck sent for him by the spirits. Reuben returns triumphantly.
==Cast== * Jeff Daniels as Reuben Soady * Harve Presnell as Albert Soady * Kimberly Norris Guerrero as Wolf Moon Dance Soady * Joey Albright as Remnar Soady/Porcelain Bus Dancer * Randall Godwin as Ranger Tom T. Treado * Wayne David Parker as Jimmer Negamanee * James Porterfield as Alphonse Soady * Guy Sanville as Alvin Soady
==See also== *Yooper dialect
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0180679|Escanaba in da Moonlight}} * {{Rotten Tomatoes|escanaba_in_da_moonlight}} * {{Mojo title|escanabaindamoonlight}}
Category:2001 films Category:2001 comedy films Category:2001 independent films Category:American comedy films Category:American independent films Category:2001 English-language films Category:American films based on plays Category:Films directed by Jeff Daniels Category:Films with screenplays by Jeff Daniels Category:Films set in 1989 Category:Films about hunting Category:Films set in Michigan Category:Films shot in Michigan Category:Upper Peninsula of Michigan Category:2001 directorial debut films Category:Magical realism films Category:2001 American films Category:English-language independent films Category:English-language comedy films Category:Escanaba, Michigan