Emma Thompson stumbles across a kidnapping, and risks her life trying to save the hostage, in the tense first trailer for upcoming thriller Dead of Winter. Think Fargo and True Detective meets Taken, and you're pretty much there – and man, it's exciting to see the Sense and Sensibility actor in this new kind of role.
Directed by Brian Kirk, whose previous credits include Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, and The Day of the Jackal, the movie follows Barb, a store owner who ventures into the Minnesota wilderness to scatter her late husband's ashes. When a blizzard causes her to hang tight on the mountains, she randomly witnesses a frantic, young woman getting chased by a gun-wielding man.
With no one answering her pleas for help through the car radio, Barb takes it upon herself to find the girl, thrusting her into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse out there on the snowy peaks. Lloyd Hutchinson, Gaia Wise, Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden, Brían F. O'Byrne, and Judy Greer round out the supporting cast.
"I'm not leaving ya," Barb reassures the young woman in the teaser, with the latter asking in another scene: "What are we gonna do?"
"We keep going. Simple as that," Barb whispers back. Check it out above.
It certainly looks like a far cry from the types of flicks Thompson, who played Professor Sybill Trelawney in the Harry Potter movies, has starred in in recent years, which have all skewed light. In fact, the Oscar winner hasn't starred in a title that isn't considered a comedy (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande had numerous funny moments!) since 2017's The Children Act. She hasn't been in a thriller since the late '90s.
Having premiered at the Locarno Film Festival on August 8, the film has earned a bunch of positive reviews, with The Guardian awarding it five stars and Variety claiming "Thompson warms the frozen heart" of the saturated genre.
Dead of Winter releases in US and UK theaters on September 26. For more, check out our picks of the most exciting upcoming movies heading our way.
