With Fox Searchlight releasing one of the most acclaimed films of the year this Friday with 12 Years a Slave, it means it’s prime time to showcase the rest of their slate. In a few days we’ll be getting the first look at Wes Anderson‘s much-anticipated The Grand Budapest Hotel and today brings the first trailer for Belle, which hits next May.
Directed by Amma Asante, the film got strong notices out of Toronto International Film Festival and this trailer reveals an elegantly crafted, engaging period drama. Featuring Gugu Mbatha-Raw (who has previously starred in a wealth of TV, along with Larry Crowne) as an illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral, this could easily be a break-out role for her. Also starring Tom Wilkinson, Sam Reid, Sarah Gadon, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Tom Felton, James Norton, Matthew Goode and Emily Watson, check out the trailer below.
Belle is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizebeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral. Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle’s lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing. Left to wonder if she will ever find love, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar’s son bent on change who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield’s role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England.
Belle opens May 2nd, 2014.