Cate Blanchett’s Past Comes to Haunt Her in Gripping ‘Disclaimer’ Trailer
The past always finds you.
So says Disclaimer, the forthcoming Apple limited series starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline and Sacha Baron Cohen, and written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
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Disclaimer is a gripping psychological thriller told in seven chapters and based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Renée Knight.
The gripping trailer introduces journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett) as an “inspiration to us all,” but she quickly begins to unravel. Hiding a deep secret from her past that threatens to expose her reputation and identity, the trailer ends with Kline’s character, who is on her case, warning, “The world needs to know who Catherine Ravenscroft really is. The world needs to know the truth.”
The trailer then ends with the following disclaimer: “Any resemblance to persons living or dead is not a coincidence.”
That disclaimer comes from the novel in the series, which is shown in the trailer. As The Hollywood Reporter‘s Chief TV Critic Daniel Fienberg explained in his review, “Catherine receives an unsolicited copy of a thin book titled The Perfect Stranger. She starts reading. First, she’s gripped. Then she’s horrified. Then she’s standing at the sink trying to set the book on fire. ‘I recognized myself,’ she says. Literally. Catherine is certain that the book is about her, about a 20-year-old secret she hoped would be buried forever.”
Here is the series logline: “Acclaimed journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett) built her reputation revealing the misdeeds and transgressions of others. When she receives a novel from an unknown author, she is horrified to realize she is now the main character in a story that exposes her darkest secrets. As Catherine races to uncover the writer’s true identity, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys both her own life and her relationships with her husband Robert (Baron Cohen) and their son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee).”
The ensemble cast includes Lesley Manville, Louis Partridge, Leila George and Hoyeon.
The series marks Cuarón’s first show under his overall deal with the streamer. When unveiling the series in Venice, the filmmaker spoke about his attraction (and, at first, hesitation) with the television format, and bringing a cinematic approach to the series. Cuarón also said he had Blanchett in mind from the start. “I was terrified that [she] would say no, because she was so much in my mind and the way I was seeing the whole thing,” he said. Blanchett, meanwhile, summed up her experience by saying: “I play a woman who has things that she has buried, traumatic things that she has buried. And so I did think about what happens to repressed memories and things that we have avoided rather than dealt with. And I found it fascinating and quite painful.”
Apple Studios’ Disclaimer is co-produced by Esperanto Filmoj and Anonymous Content. Cuarón executive produces for Esperanto Filmoj alongside Gabriela Rodriguez. Blanchett also executive produces the series, along with Knight, Emmanuel Lubezki, Donald Sabourin and Carlos Morales. David Levine and the late Steve Golin executive produce for Anonymous Content. Finneas O’Connell does the score.
Disclaimer releases its first two episodes Friday, Oct. 11, followed by new episodes every Friday.
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