Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed go to the Old West in the new trailer for The Sisters Brothers, an offbeat Western from director Jacques Audiard. Based on a novel by Patrick DeWitt, The Sisters Brothers stars Phoenix and Reilly as sibling assassins who, when they're not gleefully shooting people, spend their time bickering with one other as they ride the rugged landscape of the American frontier.
The plot kicks into motion when the two assassins are placed on the trail of a man named Warm (Riz Ahmed), a prospector who has invented a special chemical that reveals the presence of gold at the bottom of rivers. But when the brothers finally catch up with Warm and his partner Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal), they start to question their chosen profession and wonder if they shouldn't hang up their shooting irons and take up the hunt for treasure instead.
Related: Joaquin Phoenix in Talks to Star in Joker Origin Movie
Annapurna Pictures has debuted a new trailer for The Sisters Brothers, giving us our first glimpse of the movie's dark and offbeat comedic approach. "We're the Sisters Brothers," Joaquin Phoenix declares at the outset, immediately creating humorous confusion. And things only get crazier from there. See the clip above.
It's possible that with The Sisters Brothers we are witnessing the birth of a brilliant new comedic team in Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly. The normally dour Phoenix certainly seems to be having a lot of fun in the trailer, playing a man who simply enjoys killing people (a 180 degree flip from the tortured assassin he played in You Were Never Really Here). Reilly, on the other hand, seems to be in the midst of a crisis that has him questioning his entire way of life. The byplay between Reilly and Phoenix is the highlight of the trailer, promising a potentially great pairing. It doesn't hurt that acclaimed auteur Jacques Audiard is one of the film world's finest directors of actors.
Western comedy might seem a strange genre for a filmmaker of Audiard's stature to tackle, but tackle it he has. The genre does of course have a fairly rich tradition Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West and Adam Sandler's The Ridiculous Six were embarrassing disasters that made you wonder why anyone would ever try to make a funny Western.
The Sisters Brothers at least looks like it has a chance of being genuinely humorous, a legitimate character-driven comedy rather than a series of dumb Western gags. And there's no questioning the talent involved, with a director like Audiard and a cast filled with strong performers. The Sisters Brothers is set to hit theaters in Fall 2018.
More: Kong: Skull Island Director Wants John C. Reilly Spinoff
Source: Annapurna Pictures
