New ‘Chi-Raq’ Trailer: Spike Lee Hasn’t Made A Comedy
By Jack Giroux/Nov. 7, 2015 6:00 am EST
Watch the new Chi-Raq trailer after the jump.
Chi-Raq stars Samuel L. Jackson (The Hateful Eight), Teyonah Parris (Dear White People), John Cusack (Love & Mercy), Wesley Snipes (Brooklyn’s Finest), Nick Cannon (America’s Got Talent), Angela Bassett (American Horror Story), and Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls).
The latest trailer starts off with Spike Lee explaining his intentions with Chi-Raq. I can’t think of the last time a trailer featured a filmmaker explaining their goals for a film. A director shouldn’t have to do that, as the trailer and the actual movie should do the talking. But after the slight uproar caused by the first trailer, it’s understandable Lee would want to clear the air.
Here’s the latest Chi-Raq trailer:
If there’s any man that can play a one-man Greek chorus, it’s Samuel L. Jackson, a frequent collaborator of Lee’s. The star I’m most excited to see in Lee’s film, though, is John Cusack. He looks like he’s giving this role his all, as he did in Love & Mercy. This is a good year for the actor.
The original tale of Lysistrata hails from around 400 BC. In it, a woman named Lysistrata hits a novel strategy to end the Peloponnesian War: she convinces the women of Greece to refuse to sleep with their husbands until they agree to stop the fighting. The premise sounds wacky at first, and Lee definitely has some fun with it, like by having Samuel L. Jackson show up as a one-man Greek chorus.
