STX Entertainment has unveiled a new trailer for writer/director Gary Ross’ Civil War drama Free State of Jones. This marks a curious piece of material for the Hunger Games, Seabiscuit, and Pleasantville director, as the film chronicles the true story of a defiant Southern farmer named Newt Knight, who defected from the Confederacy and led an armed rebellion against the Southern soldiers, banding together with small farmers and local slaves to secede Jones County, Mississippi from the Confederacy.
This new trailer is significantly shorter than the film’s debut trailer, but that’s quite alright. That first trailer showed a bit too much of the film for my taste, and this second look at the movie hinges on a bit of a political bent, which is in lock-step with the focus on the presidential election at the moment.
Ross is a terrific filmmaker who is very patient with his movies, exemplified by the fact that Free State of Jones serves as his follow-up film to 2012’s smash-hit The Hunger Games. It’s also a promising choice of material for the Oscar-winning McConaughey, so hopes are high for this one.
Check out the new Free State of Jones trailer below. The film also stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Christopher Berry, and Keri Russell. Free State of Jones opens in theaters on June 24th.
Here’s the official synopsis for Free State of Jones:
Written and directed by four-time Oscar nominee Gary Ross (THE HUNGER GAMES, SEABISCUIT, PLEASANTVILLE), and starring Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey. FREE STATE OF JONES is an epic action-drama set during the Civil War, and tells the story of defiant Southern farmer, Newt Knight, and his extraordinary armed rebellion against the Confederacy.
Banding together with other small farmers and local slaves, Knight launched an uprising that led Jones County, Mississippi to secede from the Confederacy, creating a Free State of Jones.
Knight continued his struggle into Reconstruction, distinguishing him as a compelling, if controversial, figure of defiance long beyond the War.
