The career of David Gordon Green is so wide-ranging that it seems almost random. Green will helm a rash of studio comedies (“Pineapple Express,” “The Sitter”) and he’ll also just run and gun on small indies (“Prince Avalanche,” “Joe”). What’s clear is that no matter the size of movie, some big name stars are always willing to collaborate with this adventurous filmmaker. Nicolas Cage put in a terrific subdued performance in “Joe,” and most recently Al Pacino led “Manglehorn.” If the director is making a bucket list of great actors to work with, the next on his docket is Sandra Bullock.
A political drama produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smoke House Pictures, “Our Brand Is Crisis” seems like it might be an odd fit for Green, but the filmmaker is so malleable that it’ll be interesting what side of his arsenal he brings out of the tool shed.
“I think actors that didn’t want to do that weird shit wouldn’t want me to be the guy for the job. They wouldn’t want to work with me,” Green told us during an interview earlier this year. “There is a playful environment that I set up, and my pitch to any actor is, ‘I’m going to safely take you into dangerous places. We’re gonna go somewhere where you may be uncomfortable, but I’ll never put you in harm’s way. I’ll never actually do something stupid because I’ll show you how stupid it is first. I have a good reputation among the acting community, which really helps. It’s them knowing that you’re there because you love them and aren’t trying to exploit them.”
Co-starring Billy Bob Thornton, Zooey Kazan, Ann Dowd, Anthony Mackie, Scoot McNairy and Joaquim de Almeida, “Our Brand Is Crisis” is a loose remake of the 2005 documentary film of same name by Rachel Boynton about political campaign strategies used by Greenberg Carville Shrum (GCS) in the 2002 Bolivian presidential election.
The film is due on an Oscar-friendly October 30 release date. How much of it is political satire, and how much of it is drama? Well, the first trailer for the film has arrived and you can see for yourself below.
