Despite a wide, impressive cast to its credit, those with even an inkling of curiosity have had to wait some time for Jayne Mansfield’s Car. But, 18 months after a Berlinale debut, the trailer for Billy Bob Thornton‘s next directorial debut is here, promising a rollout that starts in little more than a few weeks — and, if I’m being sold the right project, a small-level film with some Southern charm to it. (Base its emergence on the helmer-actor’s recent sign to an FX series based on Fargo.)
The two-and-a-half minutes give a quick glimpse at the Atlantic-spanning cast, finding a way to match Robert Duvall with John Hurt and Thornton with Ray Stevenson while throwing in the likes of Kevin Bacon, Robert Patrick, Frances O’Connor, Ron White, and Shawnee Smith, all of whom are brought together by the death of one woman in ’60s Alabama. If anything, the positioning of Jayne Mansfield’s Car could make a nice transition from the summer to fall — none of the former’s bombast, little-to-none of the latter’s tear-jerking.
Watch the trailer below (via Yahoo!):
Synopsis:
“An ensemble drama about families, JAYNE MANSFIELD’S CAR looks at two colourful clans in 1969. Brought together by the death of a woman who was married, first to the Southern American Jim Caldwell (Robert Duvall) and then to the British Kingsley Bedford (John Hurt), Naomi’s families meet for the first time at the Caldwells’ Alabama home with uneasy curiosity. The culture clash of the Nineteen Sixties, and of the Old World versus the Old South, become a backdrop for the Caldwells’ and the Bedfords’ heartfelt and sometimes hilarious struggles with long-held resentments, family rivalries and secrets, and the memories of war and how it shaped three generations of fathers and sons.”
Jayne Mansfield’s Car will hit VOD on August 2o, followed by a limited theatrical release September 13.
Does the wide cast and period setting, as evidenced here, sell you on the film?