Back in March, as part of their big push to get into original feature films, Netflix reportedly paid $12 million for the rights to Beasts of No Nation, a movie based on the best-selling book by Uzodinma Iweala. Written and directed by Cary Fukunaga, the director of the eight-episode first season of True Detective, the film stars Idris Elba as a brutal African warlord known only as Commandant, and tells the story of a young man who becomes a child soldier under his control.
This week, Netflix released the first trailer for the film, and hoo boy, does it ever look intense. It’s not even a quote-unquote trailer, really. As least not the kind we’re used to seeing, featuring cut up explosions and snappy dialogue over a thumping beat. Instead, the clip appears to be a somewhat condensed version of a single scene from the film, featuring Elba pressuring the child soldier — played by newcomer Abraham Attah — into killing someone. And again, it is really, really intense. I don’t think I can possibly stress that enough.
Beasts of No Nation is set to premiere in October, and the word is that Netflix plans to make a big Oscar push to support it. The streaming service has already had some success at the Emmys, so this appears to be the next logical step.
(Via Netflix)
