Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Green are married, wealthy, crooked and apparently one murder away from a very ugly divorce. Vertical has released the official trailer for Just Play Dead, a stylish, darkly comic thriller from Casino Royale director Martin Campbell that turns a $30 million insurance scam into an increasingly elaborate game of betrayal. Watch the trailer above and get the details below.
A $30 Million Marriage Problem
Jackson plays criminal mastermind Jack Wolfe, who has some rather unpleasant news for his wife, Nora (Green). “You and I have been living on embezzled funds,” he tells her. “We have 30 days ’til we’re both in jail.”
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Luckily — depending on your definition of luck — Jack already has an escape plan. He’s insured for $30 million, so why not fake his death, collect the payout and pin his supposed murder on Nora’s surfer lover, Chad (Jason Fernández)?
There’s just one problem: Nora has an even better idea — make Jack’s fake death real.
She begins plotting to kill her husband for real, frame Chad and walk away with the fortune herself. Jack, meanwhile, isn’t nearly as easy to dispose of as she hoped, setting the stage for a sun-soaked battle of wits in which husband and wife keep attempting to stay one betrayal ahead of each other.
The increasingly tangled plot brings in federal agents, seduction and more than a few people who probably shouldn’t trust anyone. “You know what they say,” Jack quips at one point. “Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead.”
Campbell Reunites With Two Familiar Stars
Just Play Dead marks another reunion between Green and director Martin Campbell. The pair first worked together on 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, in which Green starred as Vesper Lynd, before reteaming for 2024 action thriller Dirty Angels.
Jackson also has history with Campbell, having starred alongside Maggie Q and Michael Keaton in the filmmaker’s 2021 action thriller The Protégé.
Jackson and Green have also shared the screen before, appearing together in Tim Burton’s 2016 fantasy film Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
Campbell directs from a screenplay by Dan Gordon, whose credits include The Hurricane, Wyatt Earp and Rambo: Last Blood. The supporting cast includes María Pedraza, Eoin Macken and Fernández.
When Is Just Play Dead Released?
Vertical will release Just Play Dead in select U.S. cinemas on August 28, followed by digital and on-demand availability on September 1.
An Australian release date has yet to be announced.
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