Widely regarded as one of the best-liked actors in the business, to say that Patrick Stewart is playing against type in today’s green band trailer for Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room would be something of an understatement.
For in Saulnier’s (Blue Ruin) psychological thriller, the X-Men stalwart steps into the shoes of Darcy Banker, a crooked bar owner who begins to exhibit his neo-Nazi traits when The Ain’t Rights check into town. Coming off the back of a lowly and unremarkable tour, the budding rockers face the wrath of Stewart’s menacing antagonist upon visiting his decrepit bar in the backwoods of Oregon.
Isolated in the titular Green Room while back stage, the bubbling tension spawns an old-fashioned standoff, as The Ain’t Rights scramble to find an escape route amid bloodshed and chaotic violence. A dark and seedy thriller down to its jet-black core, Saulnier’s new feature has all the makings of a nerve-wracking delight.
Among the cast are Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner, Mark Webber, Eric Edelstein, Macon Blair, and Kai Lennox.
With one TIFF 2015 premiere and a wave of goodwill under its belt, Green Room will open via limited release – in this case across LA and New York – on April 15, before expanding nationwide on April 29.
Down on their luck punk rockers The Ain’t Rights are finishing up a long and unsuccessful tour, and are about to call it quits when they get an unexpected booking at an isolated, run-down club deep in the backwoods of Oregon. What seems merely to be a third-rate gig escalates into something much more sinister when they witness an act of violence backstage that they weren’t meant to see.
Now trapped backstage, they must face off against the club’s depraved owner, Darcy Banker (Stewart), a man who will do anything to protect the secrets of his nefarious enterprise. But while Darcy and his henchmen think the band will be easy to get rid of, The Ain’t Rights prove themselves much more cunning and capable than anyone expected, turning the tables on their unsuspecting captors and setting the stage for the ultimate life-or-death showdown.