'The Trial Of The Chicago 7' Trailer: The Whole World Is Watching

If the new The Trial of the Chicago 7 is any indicator, the movie will undoubtedly be a key player in the upcoming awards season. The timely and relevant story focuses on the peaceful protest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention that turned into a violent clash with police and the court case that followed when seven protesters were charged by the federal government with conspiracy. What followed was a case full of biased politics, unabashed corruption, and absolute prejudice. Sound familiar?

Eddie Redmayne has changed his voice so distinctly that I'm not sure I'd be able to guess it was him based on hearing it. Sacha Baron Cohen continues to prove what a chameleon he is. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will undoubtedly be one of the more remarkable performances based on this trailer alone. Everyone on display here is putting in awards caliber performances, but that could make things tricky when the time comes to campaign for the acting awards.

Hopefully writer/director Aaron Sorkin has built an equally powerful movie around them. His signature, snappy dialogue is on display here, though it would appear that maybe he held back on contrived sharp quips, maybe to let history speak for itself. Surely there's still plenty of dialogue for him to sink his teeth into with a court case at the center of the story. As the crowd chants towards the end of this trailer, the whole world was watching. And we will be too when the movie hits Netflix next month.

The film stars Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale, Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin, John Caroll Lynch as David Dellinger, Alex Sharp as Rennie Davis, Noah Robbins as Lee Weiner, and Danny Flaherty as John Froines. The cast also includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Richard H. Shultz, William Hurt as John N. Mitchell, Mark Rylance as William Kunstler, , Frank Langella as Judge Julius Hoffman, and Michael Keaton as Ramsey Clark, a progressive lawyer who was also a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century.

The movie is produced by Marc Platt, Stuart Besser, Matt Jackson and Tyler Thompson with a long list of executive producers that includes Laurie MacDonald, Walter Parkes, Marc Butan, Anthony Katagas, James Rodenhouse, Nia Vazirani, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Maurice Fadida and Shivani Rawat.

What was intended to be a peaceful protest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention turned into a violent clash with police and the National Guard. The organizers of the protest—including Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden and Bobby Seale—were charged with conspiracy to incite a riot and the trial that followed was one of the most notorious in history.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 arrives on Netflix on October 16, 2020.