Premiere Date Announced For Sci-Fi Thriller 'The Shift,' Filmed Entirely On Location In Birmingham, Alabama

The genre-bending reimagining of the story of Job stars Kristoffer Polaha, Neal McDonough, Elizabeth Tabish, and Sean Astin.

This past January a film crew led by writer/director Brock Heasley and producer Ken Carpenter descended upon Birmingham, Alabama, to create a one of a kind film called The Shift. Southern Living spoke with the movie’s lead actor, Kristoffer Polaha during the filming and he described it as, “a non-genre film. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before. But it’s a romance set against the landscape of a sci-fi multiverse thriller. So it’s a genre-bending, and there is a faith element because it’s basically the story of Job. And so yeah it’s a wild ride.”

The story follows Polaha’s character, Kevin, through a multiverse as he faces choices, obstacles, and someone called The Benefactor, played by the dynamic Neal McDonough (Yellowstone) as battles to get back to his love, Molly. The cast also includes Sean Astin (The Goonies, The Lord of the Rings, Stranger Things), Rose Reid (Finding You), as well as several cast members of the popular show The Chosen; Elizabeth Tabish, Paras Patel, and Jordan Walker Ross.

Check out the trailer below:

The cast and crew lived and worked all over Birmingham for the entirety of the five week shoot. Heasley said in a press release, “The rich textures of Birmingham provide the perfect canvas on which to tell this story.” How many Birmingham locations could you spot in the trailer? Filming locations included Sloss Furnaces, Adiõs, the Masonic Temple, and many more.

During the shoot, Polaha told us, “Shooting here in Birmingham, Alabama, has probably been my favorite part of it. It’s amazing here. The food has been amazing, the people are amazing. I’ve been living in a little loft on Morris Ave.” Locals will know that Morris Ave. is a popular spot buzzing with local businesses like Alabama Peanut Company and some newest additions to the Magic City’s ever-expanding culinary scene like The Essential, Bar La Fete, and the James Beard nominated Pizza Grace.

While this will be something entirely different for those who know Polaha from his work on Hallmark Channel, the veteran leading man said, “people who love a good ol’ fashioned rom-com, it’s still a love story even though its wrapped up in sci-fi and even though it’s wrapped up in multiverse. I think it’s still a movie that wives are going to take their husbands to see. They’re both going to enjoy it equally for very different reasons.”

The Shift will hit theaters December 1. See you there.

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