Joel Edgerton Takes a Collegiate Rowing Team to the Olympics in George Clooney's “The ”“Boys in the Boat ”Trailer
George Clooney's latest movie as a director, 'The Boys in the Boat,' releases in theaters Dec. 25
George Clooney is taking audiences back to the 1936 Summer Olympics in his latest movie.
On Wednesday, Amazon MGM Studios released the trailer for The Boys in the Boat, directed by Clooney, 62. The film follows the real-life story of the 1936 University of Washington men's crew team, which made an improbable journey from the college's second-tier rowing team to becoming the United States' representative at that year's Summer Olympics in Berlin.
The movie stars Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts) as Joe Rantz, a central member of the team who is shown reminiscing on his experiences during the Great Depression at the trailer's start. Joe, a student at the college, quickly learns that if he joins its rowing team he'll receive a part-time job and housing.
Upon joining, Joe and his teammates meet Coach Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton), who warns of the sport's physical difficulty. The trailer — set to Tom Petty's 1989 classic "I Won't Back Down" — showcases how the eight-man crew team quickly climbs in the national rankings during the collegiate season and develops an impressive camaraderie that takes them all the way to Nazi-era Germany for the Olympics.
Laurie Sparham
Chris Diamantopoulos stars as Royal Brougham, James Wolk as Coach Bolles, and Joel Edgerton as Al Ulbrickson in director George Clooney's The Boys in the Boat"This inspirational true story follows a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the world," reads an official synopsis for the movie.
In an exclusive behind-the-scenes video from the movie's set recently shared with PEOPLE, Clooney praised the real-life 1936 University of Washington rowing team as a group of underdogs who surprised the world with their Olympic performance. In real life, the team won a gold medal in Berlin, narrowly beating Italy and Germany for first place at an event that Adolf Hitler attended, according to a 2012 Slate article about the team.
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MGM
Key art for George Clooney's 'The Boys in the Boat'
“These guys at the University of Washington take on the seniors, and then taking on the fraternity kids, and then taking on the Nazis," Clooney said.
"Every film we’ve ever seen that has an underdog in it, you’re always rooting for them, that you can pull yourself up from nothing and succeed," he added at the time.
Laurie Sparham
George Clooney on the set of his movie 'The Boys in the Boat'In addition to Edgerton, 49, and Turner, 33, The Boys in the Boat's cast also features Peter Guinness, Jack Mulhern, James Wolk, Hadley Robinson, Courtney Henggeler, Sam Strike, Thomas Elms, Luke Slattery, Bruce Herbelin-Earle, Wil Coban, Thomas Stephen Varey and Chris Diamantopoulos.
Mark L. Smith wrote the movie's screenplay, with music by two-time Oscar winning composer Alexandre Desplat. The Amazon MGM Studios film is produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov.
The Boys in the Boat is in theaters Dec. 25.
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