Last year, we heard that Barry Levinson, director of Best Picture winner Rain Man (for which Levinson also won the Best Director Oscar), was producing a mystery thriller called American Sweatshop with Oz showrunner Tom Fontana, and Riverdale, Look Both Ways, and Hustlers star Lili Reinhart had been cast in the lead role. Now, it has been announced that American Sweatshop is set to receive a limited theatrical release on August 29th, with a VOD release to follow on September 19th. In anticipation of that release, a trailer for the film has dropped online and can be seen in the embed above. The original plan had been for the film to reach theatres and VOD on the same day (September 19th), but due to popular demand, the distributor moved up the theatrical release date.
Emmy nominee Uta Briesewitz, whose previous credits include Stranger Things, The Wheel of Time, Westworld and This Is Us, directed the film from a screenplay by Matthew Nemeth (City on a Hill). Here’s the synopsis: In a device driven world, American Sweatshop will take a look at the toll of social media through the eyes of Daisy Moriarty (Reinhart), who while dealing with a chaotic personal life, finds herself sucked into the underbelly of the internet. Moriarty, and a motley group of coworkers, toil in a cottage industry of agencies that evaluate harmful and offensive pictures and videos uploaded to social media. With detached caution and a deranged sense of humor, they examine the millions of posts that get “flagged for review.” But one particularly violent video grabs hold of Daisy, luring her out of this office, away from the safety of her keyboard and into a dangerous world as she obsessively seeks to hold someone accountable.
Reinhart is joined in the cast by Daniela Melchior (Road House), Jeremy Ang Jones (Havoc), Josh Whitehouse (Daisy Jones & The Six), Tim Plester (Bohemian Rhapsody), Christiane Paul (Vampire Sisters), and Joel Fry (Cruella).
When her involvement was announced, Reinhart provided the following statement: “Many of us have a story to tell about an experience with the dark side of the internet— and it’s horrifying that the violence we are exposed to on a daily basis is rewiring our brains. American Sweatshop tackles this subject in an inventive and engaging way that had me hooked from page one. I’m thrilled to be working with Uta on this topical and slyly entertaining film.“
Briesewitz, Jason Sosnoff, and Anita Elsani also produced the film, with Reinhart serving as an executive producer alongside Kirk D’Amico, Matthew Nemeth, Catherine Hagedorn, and Joanna Plasky.
What did you think of the American Sweatshop trailer? Will you be watching this movie when it reaches theatres and/or VOD? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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