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A storm is brewing over Jude Law, Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas and several other A-list stars in Ron Howard’s newest film.
The new trailer for Howard’s thriller Eden shows the diverse group of settlers fighting for survival amidst a grueling backdrop of a deserted island where the only threat to themselves are the other people they share the colony with.
The trailer begins with a toast and a promise, as a man says, “Ladies and gentleman you are the very definition of survival of the fittest. To those who dare to dream.”
Groups explore the mountainous terrain of the Galápagos Islands, where a few men tell Jude Law’s character Dr. Friedrich Ritter, “Your story inspired us to leave everything behind and start anew.”
Jasin Boland
However, things don’t appear as they seem as de Armas’ character, a wealthy baroness, arrives on the island and tells Law, “Trust me by this time next year, one of us will be gone. I personally hope it’s not you.”
Other shots display the rugged and inhospitable island, including a clip of Sweeney’s character Margret swatting a mosquito on her face and Vanessa Kirby’s character Dora Strauch working to till the land.
“We hunt. We fight. We kill,” Law’s character tells Kirby as Sweeney tells Daniel Brühl’s character Heinz Wittmer, “They’re trying their best to ruin us. They won’t. Because we are family.”
Kirby’s voice could also be heard in the trailer calling someone a “traitor,” as clips show Brühl grabbing a gun and other characters pointing guns at one another. Kirby’s character could even be seen spitting in Law’s face, as she adds, “I will not let you destroy us.”
Jasin Boland
“Shut up,” de Armas says, as several characters appear to fight and run across the deserted island searching for help. The trailer builds up to a crescendo of scenes culminating in a shot showing Sweeney yelling before cutting to the title card, “Eden.”
According to a synopsis, the film will follow “the shocking true story of a group of disillusioned outsiders who abandon civilization, settling on a remote, uninhabited island only to discover that the greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other.”
“As tensions spiral and desperation takes hold, a twisted power struggle unfolds, leading to betrayal, violence, and the deaths of half the colony,” the synopsis concluded.
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According to Collider, the story is inspired by a group of European settlers who settled on an island in the Galápagos in 1929. The three groups — Law and Kirby, Brühl and Sweeney and de Armas and her crew — struggle to coexist on the island and tensions rise between them spurred on by de Armas’ character.
Jasin Boland
The screenplay was written by Noah Pink, who noted that it was not an easy shoot. “Every day was intense,” he told Collider. “… I hope it creates suspense. They were having to mine that and find that tone in the scenes every day, and sometimes one scene would lead one way and that’s what we’d be shooting in the morning, and in the afternoon, it would be something else altogether.”
“So, I love working with actors on complicated scenes, but even I felt like it was kind of a tightrope walk all the time,” he added.
Eden has not been given a release date yet.