MGM has dropped a trailer for the upcoming film based on Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The book, published in 2013 by Viking, tells the true story of the University of Washington rowing team, which went on to compete, and win, at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The book was a bestseller; a critic for Kirkus called it “a touching, fairly uncomplicated portrayal of rowing legends.”
The film adaptation is directed by George Clooney, and stars Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore), Joel Edgerton (Loving), Peter Guinness (Sleepy Hollow), and Sam Strike (The Dark Tower).
The trailer opens with a voiceover from Ian McElhinney, who plays an elderly version of rower Joe Rantz, portrayed in the film by Turner: “There are some moments in life you never forget. The Depression hit everyone hard. No jobs, no food, we were broke.” Young Rantz is told by a friend that if he makes the university rowing team, he can get money and a cheap place to live.
Later in the trailer, set to a remixed version of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” Edgerton as coach Al Ulbrickson tells his team, competing in the Olympics, “Row for your country! Row for each other!”
The Boys in the Boat is scheduled to premiere in theaters on Christmas Day.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
