Vanessa Kirby Stars in Intense Thriller (Exclusive)

Vanessa Kirby will stop at nothing to get $25,000 before morning in the intense new thriller Night Always Comes.

In the first trailer shared exclusively with PEOPLE, the Oscar nominee, 37, stars as Lynette, a woman who faces eviction if she doesn’t scrape together thousands of dollars by the next morning, embarking on a dangerous all-night mission. The film is an adaptation of the 2021 novel by Willy Vlautin.

Director Benjamin Caron (Sharper) calls Kirby’s performance “electrifying” in the “fast-paced, raw thriller.”

“She brings a wild, unpredictable energy to Lynette that makes the character feel dangerous. There’s no filter, no safety net. Her Lynette is making decisions in real time, in the middle of chaos, and you feel every second of it,” he tells PEOPLE.

“Vanessa’s ability to oscillate between fragility and ferocity is what anchors the film — she makes every emotional beat land with full force. Her portrayal is volatile, it’s dangerous, it’s beautiful. As both actor and producer, she was immersed in the character from the ground up, and that level of commitment shaped the soul of the film.”

There’s a stacked cast playing characters who encounter Lynette over the course of the nerve-shredding night. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays mom to Kirby, and Zack Gottsagen (The Peanut Butter Falcon) is her older brother.

“Every actor came to the movie with something urgent to bring to their roles,” says Caron. “From Jennifer Jason Leigh’s dynamic portrayal of Doreen to Zack Gottsagen’s warm, moving turn as Kenny, the cast created a volatile world around Lynette, one that always felt lived-in and unpredictable.”

Other costars include Stephan James, Julia Fox, Randall Park, Michael Kelly and Eli Roth, and Caron says they “all gave so much of themselves to this movie, shooting in sequence, late into the night, helping to fuel the authenticity of each moment.”

“Our approach,” he explains, “was to ensure that each character — whether in one scene or 10 — felt like the star of their own world, with real stakes and agendas.”

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Caron hopes viewers identify with Lynette, even when she makes sketchy choices throughout.

“We shot the whole movie from Lynette’s point of view, so hopefully you’re not just watching her story but are fully immersed in her point of view. Lynette is heroic but, like all of us, she’s flawed,” he says.

“She makes questionable decisions in her fight to secure a home and a future in a system designed to shut her out. And, if we did our job right, you root for her all the way.”

Night Always Comes is on Netflix Aug. 15.