Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart), both an actor and director, released a trailer for his new film, Out Of The Furnace. (Incidentally, it was also our top trailer on last week’s Weekly Trailer Roundup).

Cooper’s film is the story of two brothers, Russell and Rodney Blaze (Christian Bale and Casey Affleck). After Rodney, a returning soldier from the Iraq war, gets involved with criminal Curtis DeGoat and goes missing, brother Russell devotes his time to finding his brother. The criminal in the film is played by Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games); other co-stars include Zoe Saldana (Avatar), who plays Russell’s girlfriend, Forrest Whitaker (Repentance), and Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man).

The film takes place in a small, run-down American town where everyone makes a living by working in a steel mill from dusk until dawn and throwing back liquor to forget their adversity, a town that is no stranger to thugs and violence. When the Blaze brothers need money, Rodney  goes into business with DeGoat, but doesn’t do what he is told and subsequently goes missing, leaving Russell to find out what happened.

Out of The Furnace will surely be a change for Bale fans, who are used to the star with a deeper voice and alter ego. The film has a similar mood to The Fighter, in which Bale played Dicky Eklund, brother and trainer of boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), and a struggling drug addict.

The film was written by director Cooper and Brad Inglesby. Theatrical release is planned for December 6, 2013.