Darkest Hour Trailer

Trailer for Darkest Hour starring Gary Oldman, Lily James and Ben Mendelsohn.

Within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill (Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman) must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation.

As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.

Sadly John Hurt died during the filming of Darkest Hour. Hurt was supposed to be in the film portraying Neville Chamberlain. Unfortunately, Hurt never filmed a scene as he was being treated for cancer at the same time, which later took his life as filming was going on. Darkest Hour is going to be dedicated to Hurt...it was the final project he was involved with.

To say that Harry Potter is a feeder for Churchill films is an understatement. Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) is the fifth Harry Potter actor to portray Winston Churchill:

Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore) in Churchill's Secret (2016)
Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew) in The King's Speech (2010)
Brendan Gleeson (Mad Eye Moody) in Into the Storm (2009)
Robert Hardy (Cornelius Fudge) in War and Remembrance (1988 TV) and Bomber Harris (1989)

Winston Churchill is a popular character these days. There is also another film coming out this year simply titled Churchill with Brian Cox taking on the iconic character. Between the two films, Darkest Hour looks to come out ahead with a better cast and the story line looks to have a better approach. Of course this is simply based on a few minutes trailer.

Even though I knew going into the trailer that Gary Oldman is Winston Churchill I still could not recognize him...until he spoke. The make-up job to transform Oldman into Churchill is amazing. There should definitely be an Oscar nomination in there for someone.

I enjoyed this trailer and look forward to seeing this film. I love the actors and the historical aspect of Churchill's reign. Although, I will most likely skip the theater and catch it On Demand, this film looks like a winner.