Lionsgate has released the first trailer for S. Craig Zahler’s latest film, Dragged Across Concrete. Starring Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn, the film is likely to court controversy for both its casting of the infamous and troubled Gibson as well as its subject matter. When it comes from the director of Bone Tomahawk and Brawl In Cell Block 99, you can bet this is going to be a slow burn and pretty damn brutal all at the same time.
The film follows two policemen, one an old-timer (Gibson), the other his volatile younger partner (Vaughn), who find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics become a media sensation. Low on cash and with no other options, these two embittered soldiers descend into the criminal underworld to gain their just due but instead find far more than they wanted awaiting them in the shadows.
Check out the trailer for Dragged Across Concrete below:
As for that “slow burn” that personifies all of Zahler’s films, Dragged Across Concrete is defintely taking that a step further. Get ready to hunker down as this beast clocks in at 160 minutes. That’s right, the film is well over 2 and a half hours long. That is going to ask a lot of an audience when it comes to someone like Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn playing dirty, racist cops.
Premiering to a fury of criticism and debate at the Venice Film Festival back in September, director S. Craig Zahler said in an interview with Yahoo UK that “[When] Bone Tomahawk came out, of the people who want to see a movie called Bone Tomahawk, 60% will like it, 20% will think it’s disgusting and offensive, and 20% will think it’s boring, and those stats hold with all of my movies. I take my time, there’s stuff that will trigger certain people and that’s fine, these are the pieces I want to make.” It certainly looks like that statement will hold water with this latest.
Dragged Across Concrete has been in production since early 2017 when both Gibson and Vaughn signed on to star. The two worked together in the 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge, which was directed by Gibson himself. In May of 2017, Lionsgate acquired the US distribution rights to the film, and by July of that same year, the film began shooting in Vancouver.
Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Jennifer Carpenter, Laurie Holden, Fred Melamed, Udo Kier, Thomas Kretschmann, and Don Johnson also star.
Check out the poster for the film as well:
Dragged Across Concrete hits theaters on March 22.
Sources: Lionsgate, Yahoo UK
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