Take Shelter is one hell of a punch to the gut.

Director Jeff Nichols' tale of anxiety and nightmarish premonitions follows a small town couple Chris and Samantha (Boardwalk Empire's Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain of The Help and The Debt) as they struggle with Chris' seemingly random, torturous visions. Whether he's watching his mentality slowly breakdown or capturing a glimpse of the world's end is unclear—but either way, Shannon goes all out in depicting his character's suffering.

The movie garnered high praise after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival and built momentum after hitting Cannes and Toronto. This weekend, the movie finally hits a limited run in New York and LA (which will probably expand to a theater near you) and I had a chance to sit down with Shannon, Chastain and Nichols to talk about bringing the unique drama to life.

Obviously, I threw Shannon a Zod/Superman: Man of Steel question for good measure.

You can contact Matt Patches directly on Twitter @misterpatches and remember to follow@Hollywood_com!