As you can tell from the watermark, ComingSoon scored this exclusive unveiling of the Leatherheads poster (a film I’ve been fervently anticipating over the last several months, but, hey, I guess Universal’s just planning to take care of me with a George Clooney 1:1), and it gets across the loopy tone of the script and the trailer very effectively. I especially like the helmeted bulldog in the bottom left corner. If I’ve any complaint, it’s that the fresh-faced John Krasinski seems a bit out of place, but, then again, that’s the whole purpose of his character: he’s the Michael Ontkean of the group.
Leatherheads takes place in the 1920s, and stars Clooney as Dodge Connolly an aging pro football player who’s forced to enlist a college phenom/WWI hero, Carter Rutherford (Krasinski), in order to maintain interest in his struggling league’s exploits. While Rutherford’s a public relations boon for the sport, his war stories don’t quite add up. Enter Lexie Littleton, a feisty cub reporter who aims to expose Rutherford as a fraud; in doing so, she draws the affections of both Connolly and Rutherford. I think this is what they call a love triangle, which begets conflict, which begets drama. That’s usually a good thing for movies.
Leatherheads is slated for release on April 4th, and I am publicly begging the extraordinarily wonderful folks at Universal to get me into a long-lead screening. I’ve heard nothing but good things (even though it got bumped from December ’07, though that was truly due to Clooney’s busy schedule/unplanned motorcycle accident).