As Jennifer Lawrence fans gear up to see her in mighty warrior mode for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, how many of them are likely to fork out for Depression-era drama Serena? Well, those J-Law lovers across the pond in the UK failed to show their support for the actress’s gloomier period piece – it opened in 19th place this past weekend. The film’s U.S. distributor, Magnolia Pictures, have not yet given up hope though on the film acquiring an audience in America, as they’ve now dropped a new trailer to entice filmgoers.
In the movie, Silver Linings Playbook leads Lawrence and Bradley Cooper play newlyweds Serena and George Pemberton. With the honeymoon phase twinkle still in their eyes, the pair launch a successful timber business and everything’s rosy. However, when they discover she is unable to bear children, George strays outside of the marriage and everything falls apart.
Based on the novel by Ron Rash and directed by Susanne Bier, it’s hard to imagine the film being quite the disaster it’s been labelled by the critics. Still, the very fact that the finished product sat on the shelf for two years – as no distributor would touch it – might go some way to explaining the strong reaction. Magnolia’s latest attempt to stoke interest in the pic doesn’t stray far from footage we’ve seen in previous trailers, but watching Lawrence throw a hawk while straddling a horse has sold it for me.
Serena is released on VOD February 26th, 2015 before it opens in theatres on March 27th, 2015.
North Carolina mountains at the end of the 1920s – George (Bradley Cooper) and Serena Pemberton (Jennifer Lawrence), love-struck newly-weds, begin to build a timber empire. Serena soon proves herself to be equal to any man: overseeing loggers, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man’s life in the wilderness. With power and influence now in their hands, the Pembertons refuse to let anyone stand in the way of their inflated love and ambitions. However, once Serena discovers George’s hidden past and faces an unchangeable fate of her own, the Pemberton’s passionate marriage begins to unravel leading toward a dramatic reckoning.
