“Everyone knows who won. Not everyone knows how.” That’s the tagline for the upcoming HBO film “Brexit,” which covers the recent political movement of the same name. Like most biopics or historical films, when you talk about a topic that has been heavily in the public eye, there needs to be a new angle to get people interested. And HBO feels “Brexit” does this with the help of Benedict Cumberbatch.
In the first trailer for the upcoming film, we meet Benedict Cumberbatch’s character Dominic Cummings, the famous campaign leader for the Vote Leave movement in Britain in 2015-16. As you see, Cummings wasn’t just your everyday campaign manager. No, to help the Vote Leave movement win the crucial vote, the political figure had to find every advantage he could, which included a fair bit of seemingly dirty politics, mild (if not overt) racism, and a healthy dose of social media.
Stepping back a bit further, for those not caught up completely on European politics, the term Brexit refers to the referendum that was voted on in 2016 that gave the United Kingdom the backing to leave the European Union. The vote was highly controversial and, in a way, mirrored the political divide that has been plaguing many of the world superpowers, including the United States.
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It’s clear that Cumberbatch is fully committed to the role of Cummings, changing his appearance to better suit the real-life figure. Joining the actor in the cast are Rory Kinnear, John Heffernan, Liz White, and Kyle Soller.
“Brexit” is directed by Toby Haynes, who is best known for his work on “Sherlock,” “Doctor Who,” “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell,” and the “Black Mirror” episode “U.S.S. Callister.”
HBO is set to premiere the film on January 19, 2019.
Here’s the first trailer:
