Lionsgate has released the trailer for The Courier (formerly titled Ironbark, when it played at Sundance last year). The film is based on the true story of British businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), who was recruited by MI-6 and the CIA to form a partnership with Soviet officer Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) to smuggle secrets out of the Soviet Union, including the intelligence needed to defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Adam Chitwood and I caught the film at Sundance, and we thought it had some great dad movie energy where it feels serious enough to have real stakes, and yet also comforting in its spy movie machinations. That’s not always an easy balance to strike, but it makes The Courier incredibly entertaining while not losing sight of the real people who risked their lives in the Cold War. It’s definitely worth checking out, and I can definitely see it catching on with audiences.

Check out The Courier trailer below. The film arrives in theaters on March 19th, and also stars Rachel Brosnahan and Jessie Buckley.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Courier:

THE COURIER is a true-life spy thriller, the story of an unassuming British businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) recruited into one of the greatest international conflicts in history. At the behest of the UK’s MI-6 and a CIA operative (Rachel Brosnahan), he forms a covert, dangerous partnership with Soviet officer Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) in an effort to provide crucial intelligence needed to prevent a nuclear confrontation and defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Courier poster