Hot from my inbox, here is the official trailer and teaser poster for the upcoming military drama Brothers starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman. Lionsgate must think they have an Academy Award contender on it’s hands. Brothers hits theaters on December 4.

I think the film looks good. It seems to deliver on the promise of Maguire and Gyllenhaal’s emerging gravitas. Of course, anything not Star Wars that manages to attract Natalie Portman’s attention also gets a pass. I view her as an intelligent actress who strategically picks her roles. So her involvement in this one speaks volumes.

It’s weird for me to see Maguire in the trailer. Not only because he went all “method” and withered away to almost nothing. But also because I’ve come to identify him so strongly with Spider-Man, it’s jarring to see him in anything else.

How weird must it have been to be cast in a movie with Gyllenhaal – the dude poised to step into his shoes if his negotiations on Spider-Man 3 feel through? Any awkward conversations around the craft services table for those two? Who knows – maybe it benefited the animosity between the two characters as it builds into the third act.

Anyway, here’s the poster:

Synopsis:
BROTHERS tells the powerful story of two siblings, thirty-something Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and younger brother Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal), who are polar opposites. A Marine about to embark on his fourth tour of duty, Sam is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, the aptly named Grace (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two young daughters. Tommy, his charismatic younger brother, is a drifter just out of jail who’s always gotten by on wit and charm. When his Black Hawk helicopter is shot down in the mountains Sam is presumed dead and the Cahill family suddenly faces a shocking void. Tommy tries to fill in for his brother by assuming newfound responsibility for himself, Grace, and the children. In the grief and strangeness of their new lives, Grace and Tommy are naturally drawn together. Their longstanding frostiness dissolves, but both are frightened and ashamed of the mutual attraction that has replaced it.

When Sam unexpectedly returns to the States, a nervous mood settles over the family. Sam, uncharacteristically withdrawn and volatile, grows suspicious of his brother and his wife. Their familiar roles now nearly reversed, Sam and Tommy end up facing the ultimate physical and mental challenge when they confront each other. In the shifting family dynamics, who will dominate? Directed by six-time Oscar® nominee Jim Sheridan (IN AMERICA, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER), BROTHERS tells the compelling tale of how two brothers come to terms with issues of love, loyalty, and manhood—and with the woman caught between them.