Coming off of her Oscar win for Still Alice, Julianne Moore seems poised to campaign for a consecutive win with her work on Freeheld. Directed by Peter Sollett and written by Ron Nyswaner, the film is based on the true story of Laurel Hester (Moore), a New Jersey police officer who has to fight to allow her pension benefits to be left to her domestic partner when she’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. Ellen Page stars opposite Moore as Hester’s partner Stacie Andree, and Steve Carell plays Steven Goldstein, the founder of New Jersey LGBTQ political advocacy organization Garden State Equality. Michael Shannon co-stars as Dane Wells, Hester’s police partner who is supportive of her fight for equality.
Moore has fantastic chemistry with Page and Shannon throughout the trailer, but honestly, she could probably have great chemistry with a dishrag. In his usual way, Carrell brings a little bit of humor to the drama: “I am not a radical. I am a middle-class Jewish homosexual from New Jersey,” Goldstein explains to Wells. Will Gardner also comes back to life in the trailer—okay, so it’s just Josh Charles playing another smooth-talking lawyer named Bryan Kelder, but we’ll pretend it’s Will.
Freeheld comes out in limited release on October 2, with a wide release set for October 16.