Back in 2013, Matthew McConaughey gave a much-praised performance as Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club, a biopic that follows Woodroof as he smuggles unapproved drugs into Texas to help alleviate his AIDS symptoms. The Texan actor, who had up until that point seen little critical acclaim, suddenly became the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor. The former romantic comedy star has since gone on to play more dramatic roles, such as Joseph Cooper in Interstellar, but he hasn’t been altogether separated from his cowboy roots.
Upcoming McConaughey-led film Gold tells a raucous story of corruption and entitlement, based on the real-life Bre-X mining scandal of 1993. In said scandal, mining company Bre-X provided fraudulent evidence of gold in their Indonesian mines to investors. None of that seems particularly interesting on paper, but the film has nevertheless been given the Hollywood spin to produce a tale of intrigue, action, and adventure.
Though two previous trailers for the film have already been released (you can watch them here and here), you haven’t really seen Gold until you’ve seen it in all its crass un-glory. Thus, we bring you its red band trailer. Check out all the craziness, above.
So far, this looks like a change of pace for screenwriters John Zinman and Patrick Massett, whose other major projects are Friday Night Lights and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Drama certainly plays a role in this film, but there’s a heavy comedic weight to it that McConaughey carries with typical swagger. The actor plays off of love interest Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World) and partner in crime Édgar Ramírez (Zero Dark Thirty, The Girl on the Train), whose retorts are equally witty, throughout the preview.
If you’re getting some serious The Wolf of Wall Street vibes from this trailer, you’ve got good instincts – and not just because Matthew McConaughey lent his drawl to that film as well. Based on this preview, Gold looks like a similarly responsibility-free amoral romp, where tons of privilege meet little consequence. It’s unclear whether the actual film will reveal a more nuanced exploration of the Bre-X scandal, or whether things will remain as superficial as in the trailer, though early reviews seem to indicate an unfortunate lean towards the latter option.
After distributor TWC-Dimension deferred Gold’s wide release, the film is slated to come out in most cinemas nationwide on January 27. Until then, we’ll simply have to guess just how promising – or asinine – this film really is.
