'Miss Sloane' Trailer: Jessica Chastain Fights For Gun Control In John Madden's Thriller

In 2015, Jonathan Perera's script for Miss Sloane made the 2015 Blacklist (a list of the best-unproduced screenplays). Not too long after making the list, it drew interest from director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) and actress Jessica Chastain (The Martian). Chastain stars as a lobbyist in Madden's latest film, which also features Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Beyond the Lights), Alison Pill (The Newsroom), Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Jon Lithgow (Love Is Strange), Michael Stuhlbarg (Boardwalk Empire), and more.

Below, watch the Miss Sloane trailer.

Chastain stars as Elizabeth Sloane, a tough-as-nails lobbyist risking her career. Sloane is trying to push a background-check bill through the U.S. Senate for gun control, which makes for a timely story. Sloane's personal and professional life may explode in this second collaboration between John Madden and Chastain. The pair worked on The Debt, a well-acted and often suspenseful, albeit minor, thriller.

Here's a look at their upcoming film:

Opening with Jessica Chastain breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience is an attention-grabbing opening for a trailer. Her matter-of-fact delivery helps create a tension in the trailer that, maybe, some fans wouldn't expect from a film with this story; it's easy to imagine the dry, pandering version of this movie, but this trailer isn't selling this film.

According to EW, Madden knew right away the titular role was perfect for Jessica Chastain:

The first moment I read the script [for Miss Sloane] I thought that the role belonged to Jessica. She has a reputation now as an actor that's in a class — and people expect to see a level of performance from her that's commanding and detailed and unusual. From tremendous strength and drive on the one hand and fragility and vulnerability on the other. And the scale on this film calls for both of those two things.

Chastain is in nearly every scene of Miss Sloane. That's a challenge the actress should likely have little trouble with — managing to maintain our attention in every scene, especially if the script is as good as The Blacklist claimed it was in 2015. Madden called the actress the engine of the movie, and it should go without saying, but Chastain has proven to be a pretty reliable engine over these past few years, often delivering performances with the level of nuance Madden speaks of when discussing Miss Sloane.

Here's the film's official synopsis:

MISS SLOANE is the story a ruthless lobbyist (Jessica Chastain) who is notorious for her unparalleled talent and her desire to win at all costs, even when it puts her own career at risk. The thriller pulls back the curtain on how Capitol Hill games are played and won as Sloane faces off against the most influential powers in D.C.

Ms. Sloane opens in theaters on December 9th.