You hear nothing, you see nothing, you only serve in this first trailer for THE BUTLER

After bursting onto the scene with the unflinchingly powerful Precious, director Lee Daniels faltered a bit with his followup, The Paperboy. The most powerful thing about that movie is the smell of Nicole Kidman peeing on Zac Efron. Yes, she did that for real.

But it seems Daniels is done… ahem… pissing away his talent, as this first trailer for his next film, The Butler, looks to already have Oscar contender written all over it.

Based on the screenplay by Danny Strong & Lee Daniels, “The Butler” is inspired by Wil Haygood’s Washington Post article about an African-American man who served as a butler (Whitaker) to eight Presidents in the White House for over thirty years. From this unique vantage point, “The Butler” traces the dramatic changes that swept American society, from the civil rights movement to Vietnam and beyond, and how those changes affected this man’s life and family.

Clearly, this is not a movie for the Michael Bay crowd, but if you like your dramas poignant and superbly acted, then this seems like movie for you.

Speaking of acting, it is quite the cast that Daniels has assembled to play some of US politics’ most famous figures. If you were trying to figure out who is who in that trailer, don’t worry I’ve got your back (with some assistance from IMDB, of course).

James Mardsen will play JFK, with Minka Kelly as his wife, Jackie Kennedy, Robin Williams and Melissa Leo are Dwight and Mamie Eisenhowser and Alan Rickman and is Ronald Reagan with Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan. John Cusack plays Richard Nixon, Nelsan Ellis is Martin Luther King Jr. and finally,  Liev Schrieber is Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Butler will be serving up a slice of US political history in cinemas on October 18, 2013.

Last Updated: May 9, 2013