The spectacular first trailer has arrived for David O. Russell’s highly anticipated new film, American Hustle (formerly American Bullshit), a ’70s-set drama loosely based on the ABSCAM operation. This film has one of the year’s best ensembles, led by Christian Bale as a Bronx con artist, Amy Adams as his fiery girl/partner in crime, Bradley Cooper as the FBI agent who forces them to work for him, Jennifer Lawrence as his unpredictable wife, and Jeremy Renner as the Mayor of Camden — all of whom undergo outrageous hair and costume transformations here. The ridiculous supporting cast includes Louis C.K., Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Rohm, Dawn Olivieri, Jack Huston, Michael Peña and Robert De Niro. This Led Zeppelin-backed trailer is refreshingly light on plot and heavy on style, with Russell and his actors seemingly having a blast with the excess of the story and era, and it makes for a thrilling teaser. With Russell on a tremendous roll following The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, this film is fast becoming one of my most anticipated of the awards season — up there with Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street – and I wouldn’t be surprised to see several of these fine actors in the running for Oscars next year.
American Hustle opens limited on December 13 and wide on Christmas Day in the US. Watch the first trailer below.
