Open Road Films has released the full-length trailer for their Sundance hit, coming-of-age story, Dope. Written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa (The Wood), the story explores the trials of growing up in the rough neighborhoods of Inglewood, California, where the director was also raised.
The film stars Shameik Moore (Joyful Noise) in his breakout lead role as Malcolm, a brainy high school senior trying to avoid the rough life within “The Bottoms” of Inglewood by focusing on his 90s throwback band and getting into Harvard. When he becomes infatuated with a girl (Zoe Kravitz, Insurgent), she convinces him to attend a drug dealer’s birthday party, which marks the beginning of an ordeal that could ruin his future plans. The film also stars Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Kiersey Clemons (MTV’s Eye Candy) as Malcolm’s friends and band mates, as well as producer Forest Whitaker (Last Kind of Scotland) as the film’s narrator.
The new trailer presents a large shift in dynamic from the previously released teaser, which set the film’s 90s-meets-present-day pop culture tone. The footage below reveals a lot more of Dope‘s plot and a clear view into Malcolm’s character. What we see is a typical high school genre character: the nerdy straight-A student trying to break out of his mold, yet Malcolm takes this to a whole new level.
Check out the trailer below, and see the movie in theaters starting June 19.