The upcoming movie “King Ivory” sees James Badge Dale (“The Pacific,” “13 Hours”) playing a Tulsa drug cop trying to rid his community of the scourge of drug cartels and fentanyl (king ivory being the death drug’s street name), hailing from writer/director John Swab (from Tusla, Oklahoma himself) as the pic includes Mexican, Irish, and Indigenous criminal groups running the drug trafficking trade as things quickly esculate to violence.
Others among the cast of “King Ivory” are Ben Foster (“Hell or High Water,” “Lone Survivor”) as the head of an Irish criminal outfit, Michael Mando (“Better Call Saul,” “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”), Rory Cochrane (“Hostiles”), Ritchie Coster (“Blackhat,” “Tulsa King”), George Carroll (“The Town,” “Killing Them Softly”), Melissa Leo (“The Fighter,” “Prisoners”), Sam Quartin, and also features a performance from the late Canadian actor Graham Greene (“Wind River,” “Dances With Wolves”).
An official logline for the new crime thriller courtesy of Saban Films:
From civilians to criminals to addicts to law enforcement, and everyone in between, all walks of life intersect in this thriller about the epidemic that is fentanyl; street name: King Ivory. It is business as usual for Tulsa drug cop, Layne West (James Badge Dale), battling the local criminal element, which hits too close to home when his son, Jack (Jasper Jones), gets hooked on fentanyl. In conjunction with his partner, Ty (George Carroll), and FBI counterpart, Beatty (Rory Cochrane), West makes it his mission in life to take down those responsible, including the Mexican cartel’s local shot-caller, Ramón Garza (Michael Mando), Indian Brotherhood War Chief, Holt Lightfeather (Graham Greene), who controls state-wide trafficking while serving life inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester a.k.a. “Big Mac,” and the local Irish Mob family outfit, led by George “Smiley” Greene (Ben Foster), along with his mother, Ginger (Melissa Leo), and uncle, Mickey (Ritchie Coster). As Holt educates West during a prison visit, “The cartels want your kids, the next generation, who want what is new, and fentanyl is new.”
Jeremy M. Rosen produced the film, which is being distributed by Roadside Attractions and Saban Films. You can view that trailer for “King Ivoy” below, as the movie heads to theaters nationwide on November 14.
Christopher Marc is lead writer at The Playlist and the primary engine behind our daily news coverage. Chris is based in Canada and tracks everything from Marvel and Star Wars developments to arthouse acquisitions and festival buzz with equal enthusiasm and an instinct for the story readers actually want to read.
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
