"Some Stories are Just Too True to Tell:" The First Full Trailer for 'KILL THE MESSENGER' Starring Jeremy Renner Emerges

Jeremy Renner's career is on fire this year. Since coming off the media haze of American Hustle (which finally ended its run at the Oscars in March), the actor has jumped from one project to another--just this month starring with Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix in The Immigrant and later this year he headlines KILL THE MESSENGER. The latter film, slated to be in theaters October 10th, sees Renner as real-life investigative reporter Gary Webb, whose dangerous pursuit of a cocaine smuggling story ultimately threatens his career, family and life. (The real Webb died in 2004; it was judged a suicide). More:

Two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (“The Bourne Legacy”) leads an all-star cast in a dramatic thriller based on the remarkable true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb. Webb stumbles onto a story which leads to the shady origins of the men who started the crack epidemic on the nation’s streets…and further alleges that the CIA was aware of major dealers who were smuggling cocaine into the U.S., and using the profits to arm rebels fighting in Nicaragua. Despite warnings from drug kingpins and CIA operatives to stop his investigation, Webb keeps digging to uncover a conspiracy with explosive implications. His journey takes him from the prisons of California to the villages of Nicaragua to the highest corridors of power in Washington, D.C. – and draws the kind of attention that threatens not just his career, but his family and his life.

Certainly an interesting story that deserves to be told on film, but the trailer (below) isn't particularly compelling--more like a derivative drug drama than a riveting real-life story. Although, the rest of the cast--which includes Andy Garcia, Oliver Platt, Paz Vega (whose performance in Spanglish I still think deserved far more attention than it received), Ray Liotta, Tim Blake Nelson, Michael K. Williams, Rosemarie DeWitt and Barry Pepper--is at least worth the price of admission. And I'm sure better clips will be forthcoming as we get closer to the release date. 

Director Michael Cuesta, mostly known for his TV work such as Six Feet Under, Dexter and Homeland, is behind the project, which is an interesting choice. Screenwriter Peter Landesman adapted the story based on Webb's own book, "Dark Alliance," and "Kill the Messenger" by Nick Schou. 

Watch the trailer:

KILL THE MESSENGER is in theaters October 10th.