Clearly looking to boost itself as a prestige, Oscar-friendly experience, the first trailer for Lee Daniels’ The Butler has arrived online with pomp, ceremony and a roll call of the impressive cast roster.
Based on the life of Eugene Allen, who waited on nearly dozen US presidents from Harry S. Truman in 1952 to Ronald Reagan in 1986, The Butler follows Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, who rises from tough beginnings to become an integral part of the White House staff.
As the years pass, we get to see the effect it has on his life, as well as that of his wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) and his activist son Louis (David Oyelowo).
That’s just a tiny fragment of a cast that also includes Alan Rickman, John Cusack, Robin Williams, James Marsden, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard, Minka Kelly, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr, Vanessa Redgrave, Mariah Carey, Nelsan Ellis, Aml Ameen and approximately 54,000 others.
The film hits US cinemas on October 18, but there’s no set date for the UK just yet.