Fall is around the corner, which means an onslaught of biopics and every so often, one of them manages to break the mold. We’re hoping this is the case for Darkest Hour, a new Winston Churchill biopic — not to be confused with the other one this year — with Gary Oldman in the lead role in a wild transformation. Ahead of a likely festival premiere before a November release, Focus Features have now released the first trailer.
Directed by Atonement and Anna Karenina‘s Joe Wright, Oldman has certainly transformed into the British Prime Minister and we hope the script by Anthony McCarten is a few steps above his milquetoast work in The Theory of Everything. Also starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Stephen Dillane, Ronald Pickup, and Ben Mendelsohn, check out the trailer below.
A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill (Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman) must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.
Darkest Hour opens on November 22.