By Armando
Focus Features
The latest trailer for the historical war drama “Darkest Hour” has been released and it’s stunning (see below). Focus Features also released a new poster with the tagline “A Man With The Heart Of A Nation” (right).
Gary Oldman is literally unrecognizable, looking the spitting image of the larger-than-life British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who defied Hitler and rallied England during the darkest moments of World War II.
The masterful veteran actor, who has been strangely ignored by the Academy multiple times in the past has never won for an acting Oscar award. But he looks sensational here, and may have found the role of his illustrious career.
Oldman is gaining some of the best acclaim in his career for this portrayal after a standout play at Telluride Film Festival early this month, putting the actor in strong contention for the awards season. Darkest Hour will also be screening at Austin Film Festival.
The trailer is intense, with the track accompanied by ticking clock and war sirens in the background, capturing that dark and unpredictable period of a looming Nazi invasion.
“Darkest Hour” is the second film this year to chronicle events of wartime Dunkirk. But while Christopher Nolan’s eponymous blockbuster immersed viewers into the horrors at ground zero, Darkest Hour focus on its repercussions on other side of the Channel. They may in fact work as companion pieces or a great double feature watch.
Directed by Joe Wright (Atonement), and written by Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything), Darkest Hour follows Winston Churchill’s early days as British Prime Minister while Hitler closes in on Britain in World War II. Oldman is joined by a sterling cast including Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI, Kristin Scott Thomas as Churchill’s wife Clementine, Ronald Pickup as Neville Chamberlain, Stephen Dillane as Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, and Lily James as personal secretary of Churchill Elizabeth Nel.
Focus Features is set to release Darkest Hour on November 22 in select cities.
