See John Boyega in the trailer for heist thriller Naked Singularity

In the legal drama-thriller-comedy Naked Singularity, John Boyega plays a New York lawyer who is pulled into a high-stakes drug heist by an unpredictable former client.

"It centers on Casi, played by John Boyega, a young idealistic public defender in New York who is beating his head against the wall of the system," director Chase Palmer tells EW. "Olivia Cooke is a client who is playing all sides of her deal with the cops and he decides to really change things up in his life, potentially for the betterment of the system if he can pull this whole thing off."

The cast also includes Ed Skrein, Tim Blake Nelson, Linda Lavin, and Bill Skarsgård.

"He plays Casi's best friend and colleague, who is also a public defender, who is the opposite of idealistic," Palmer says of the It actor. "He is checked out, over it, [thinks] this was a bad choice as a profession. So he's kind of our comic foil and our devil on the shoulder of John."

Walter Thomson/SFFILM John Boyega in 'Naked Singularity'

The movie is based on the acclaimed novel A Naked Singularity, by real-life public defender Sergio De La Pava.

"I loved the mash-up of genres: the legal drama with the heist film with these additional metaphysical elements going on," says Palmer. "It's a long book, but we tried to distill it and capture the energy of it that [and] make a fun movie with also something to say about the justice system."

So what exactly is a naked singularity?

"A singularity is that point within a black hole that you cannot see, it's beyond the event horizon," says Palmer. "The naked singularity is this theoretical idea of our ability to see that singularity, see into the black hole. John in the movie is in the black hole, he's staring right into it, and he's showing us what he's seeing."

Naked Singularity will be released in theaters Aug. 6 and on demand Aug. 13. Watch the exclusive trailer above, and see the film's poster below.

Screen Media Naked Singularity poster

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