First Look Photos Shared for Aaron Sorkin's THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Thanks to Vanity Fair, we have our very first look at Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming film The Trial of the Chicago 7, which is coming to Netflix.
The film recounts “the infamous 1969 trial of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy and more, arising from the countercultural protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The trial transfixed the nation and sparked a conversation about mayhem intended to undermine the U.S. government.”
The movie also has an impressive all-star cast that includes Michael Keaton, William Hurt, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, Frank Langella, Mark Rylance, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Thomas Middleditch and Max Adler.
Keaton is playing Ramsey Clark, who was the judge that oversaw the trial, and Hurt will play John Mitchell, the attorney general at the time. Redmayne will take on the role of Tom Hayden, Baron Cohen will play Abbie Hoffman, Rogen will play Jerry Rubin, Gordon-Levitt will play Richard Schultz, Majors will play Bobby Seale, and Sharp as Rennie Davis.
Sorkin went on to explain that the film is “a great courtroom drama.” But the trial was just one of three stories he wanted to tell in the movie. It’s explained:
The second was the evolution of the riot. “How did we go from what was supposed to be a peaceful anti-war demonstration to this incredibly bloody and violent confrontation?” The third, “more personal and emotional” strand is a kind of love story, the bond that developed between Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden, “two people who didn’t get along very well at the beginning and came to have a lot of respect for each other.” You can expect comedy, but, says Sorkin, “in our movie we use that humor to fool you for a second before we punch you in the gut.”
When talking about the relevance of this story in today’s world, Sorkin said:
“The movie was relevant when we were making it. We didn’t need it to get more relevant, but it did. The polarization, the militarization of the police, the fear of Black activists, even the intramural battle between the left and the far left. To say nothing about [Black Panther] Fred Hampton being murdered by the police during the trial. At this performance the role of Mayor Daley is being played by Donald Trump.”
Sorkin wrote and directed the Steven Spielberg-produced film. This is a film that I’ve been looking forward to seeing.
