A day after teasing their upcoming crime-comedy One Day As A Lion with a vibrant poster, Lionsgate has now revealed the first trailer for the film that stars Scott Caan, J.K. Simmons, and Frank Grillo. The film centers on Caan's Jackie Powers, a pressed-for-cash father who resorts to becoming an amateur hitman in an effort to afford legal fees for his delinquent son facing trial. The film is billed as a witty homage to Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers which the trailer quickly teases as it includes a fine blend of drama, comedy, and heavy action.
The trailer opens with Powers receiving detailed orders from a mobster as he prepares to take on his first target. The instruction is simple, get the target to pay the money he owes the boss by any means necessary including killing him. However, it immediately becomes apparent that Powers is grossly inexperienced and simply incapable of murder. Not only does he wear a ridiculous mustache in an effort to conceal his identity, but he also approaches his target and ignorantly begins a negotiation. The target, Walter Boggs (Simmons) who is described as a crafty debtor doesn't hesitate to consider his conditions as he quickly fires the first shot.
Powers' failed mission lands him in hotter water as he becomes the mob boss Pauly Russo's (Grillo) new target. The boss assigns the mission to another thug, Dom Lorenzo who is also tasked with hunting down Powers now on the run. However, while the mission at the diner didn't go as planned, it led Powers to encounter a waitress whom he teams with to defraud her rich dying mom as the two are seen cutting a mutually-beneficial deal. As the trailer progresses, the plot becomes rather convoluted. Action sequences abound as we see a handful of dead bodies as Boggs and Russo face off in a deadly power play. There's also a light sprinkling of romance and comedy, and judging by these, One Day As A Lion appears to tick the right boxes as a homage to the aforementioned auteurs.
The Team Behind One Day As A Lion
Caan, in addition to starring, also provided the script for the film. The movie was directed by John Swab. Additional cast for the film includes Marianne Rendón, Taryn Manning, George Carroll, and Oscar-nominee Virginia Madsen. Roxwell Films' Jeremy M. Rosen serves as producer while executive producers include Barry Brooker, Stan Wertlieb, Joshua Spector, Viviana Zarragoitia, and Ali Jazayeri.
One Day As A Lion will hit select theaters on April 4 before becoming available digitally and on-demand on April 7. Check out the trailer and official synopsis for the film below:
Jackie Powers (Scott Caan) is a nice guy but a lousy hitman sent to take out a crafty debtor (J.K. Simmons) Jackie only pisses him off. Fleeing the scene Jackie takes bored waitress Lola as a hostage. Jackie needs money to get his son out of jail Lola cooks up a scheme for them to get cash from her dying mother (Virginia Madsen). Meanwhile, a thug sent to kill him is sleeping with Jackie’s ex… Also starring Frank Grillo this crime comedy is a witty homage to Tarantino and the Coen brothers.