For anyone who still questions Netflix's sincerity in stepping into the gap left by the mainstream Hollywood industry stepping away from director driven fare in favor of franchise blockbusters, well, here's another example of where the streaming giant is going.
It was just a couple days ago that the talk of the town was Netflix stepping up and laying down a reported one hundred million plus to reunite Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci for The Irishman, news that was rapidly followed by the release of teasers for David Ayer's Will Smith / Joel Edgerton starrer Bright and Bong Joon-ho's Okja and here we go again with Animal Kingdom director David Michôd's War Machine.
A pitch-black war story for our times, writer-director David Michôd (Animal Kingdom) recreates a U.S. General’s roller-coaster rise and fall as part reality, part savage parody – raising the specter of just where the line between them lies today. His is an absurdist look at a born leader’s ultra-confident march right into the dark heart of folly. At the story’s core is Brad Pitt’s sly take on one of the most polarizing war figures of a generation: successful, charismatic four-star General Stanley McChrystal, who leapt in like a rock star to command NATO forces in Afghanistan, only to be taken down by a journalist’s no-holds-barred exposé.
The Netflix original film is based on the book The Operators: The Wild & Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan by the late journalist Michael Hastings. Joining Pitt in War Machine is a highly decorated cast including Tilda Swinton, Sir Ben Kingsley, Anthony Michael Hall, Topher Grace, Will Poulter, Lakeith Stanfield, Emory Cohen, John Magaro, RJ Cyler, Alan Ruck, Scoot McNairy and Meg Tilly. Ian Bryce and Plan B’s Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Brad Pitt serve as producers. James Skotchdopole serves as executive producer.
As with Okja the teaser here is a brief one but it does a great job of setting the tone. Check it out below.