Michelle Monaghan in Trucker..

Last night a press release arrived in what appears to be most everyone's inbox announcing the October 9 limited release of Monterey Media's Trucker starring Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible III, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) as Diane Ford, a young truck driver, who leads a carefree life of long-haul trucking, one night stands and all-night drinking until the evening her estranged 11-year-old son shows up at her door. Already Awards Daily and In Contention have grasped onto the film's potential to bring Monaghan an Oscar nomination as even the press release that was sent out says the October release puts "it right into the middle of the Fall awards season." Written and directed by James Mottern, the film co-stars Nathan Fillion, Benjamin Bratt, Jimmy Bennett and Joey Lauren Adams. Is it possible this film could come out of nowhere and earn a nomination? Your damn right it is. Last year a pair of lesser-known and lesser-seen films where hot in the awards race and one managed an Oscar nomination while the other just steadily made a name for itself, and coincidentally both were sporting much talked about lead female performances. Of course, I am talking about Melissa Leo and her Oscar nomination for Frozen River and Michelle Williams in Wendy and Lucy. While Frozen River was a little more well known heading into the Oscar race, Wendy and Lucy was the little guy that, in the end, did earn Williams an Independent Spirit Award nomination. On top of an Oscar nomination, Leo won Best Female Lead at the Spirit Awards and was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. On top of the announcement we have the first look image you see above as well as the trailer included in this article. I am sure a more official trailer will be released soon.

Trucker tells the story of Diane Ford (Monaghan), a vivacious young truck driver, who leads a carefree life of long-haul trucking, one night stands and all-night drinking until the evening her estranged 11-year-old son shows up at her door.