Netflix has just released the first trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
The almost-two-hour-long drama follows the peaceful demonstration at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which denounced American involvement in the Vietnam War, after it was met with force by members of the Chicago Police Department and National Guard. The demonstration soon evolved into a riot.
The trial lasted six months, as the Nixon administration fired accusations against the protestors, depicting them as criminals bent on crossing state lines to incite riots. The trial’s openly biased judge didn’t allow the jury to hear attorney general Ramsey Clark’s opinion that the police were to blame for the initial violence.
Comedy will be woven into the courtroom drama as well, Sorkin said in an interview with Vanity Fair, though the gravity of the story will still be its main focus.
“In our movie we use that humor to fool you for a second before we punch you in the gut,” Sorkin said.
The pic stars Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Alex Sharp, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeremy Strong, Frank Langella and John Carroll Lynch.
The movie is set to premiere on Oct. 16, ahead of the 2020 election, given its similarities to today’s politically polarized environment and protests. The comparisons to the late ’60s run deep, with President Donald Trump even adopting Nixon’s past “law and order” rhetoric for his reelection campaign.
Shooting took place before the COVID-19 pandemic halted production for a host of television shows and films.