Mark Hamill and Bert Kreischer take on the Russian Mafia on drugs in the new red band trailer for their film The Machine. The film is based on a supposedly true story Kreischer told during a Showtime standup special in 2016 about the time he spent with the Russian Mafia during a semester abroad in college. The rights to develop the viral story into a feature film were bought from Kreischer by Legendary Pictures in 2019.
The first red band trailer for the film was released by Sony Pictures Entertainment that included swearing and violence, which can be checked out below:
The trailer, which is just under two and a half minutes long, introduces Kreischer and his father, played by Hamill in his first non-Star Wars live-action film role since 2018, as they go toe to toe with the Russian Mafia 23 years after Kreischer’s famous Russian romp as a frat boy. The film is set for release on May 25th for Memorial Day weekend.
What We Know About The Machine So Far
The film’s main narrative picks up at a kid’s birthday party during which Kreischer’s past comes back to haunt him and his wayward father when a Russian mobster, played by Iva Babic, shows up to kidnap him back to Russian to pay for the crimes he committed as a partying 22-year-old. Audiences will see Hamill, in quite a departure from his most famous role as kind-hearted Jedi Luke Skywalker, doing drugs (and enjoying it) and cursing as the father-son duo attempt to escape the clutches of the Russian mob.
Alongside Kreischer and Hamill, Jimmy Tatro, who got his first big movie role in 2014 in the action comedy 22 Jump Street, appears as a 22-year-old Kreischer. Stephanie Kurtzuba, best known for her roles in Martin Scorsese films The Wolf Of Wall Street and The Irishman, features in a smaller role as Kreischer’s wife, LeeAnn. Rita Bernard-Shaw, Jessica Gabor, and Nikola Duricko also star in the film, which will be directed by Peter Atencio, who is known for his work on the comedy sketch show Key & Peele.
Kreischer has gained fame through his standup specials for Showtime and Netflix, the most recent of which, Razzle Dazzle, will be released on Netflix on March 14th. The standup special from which The Machine takes its title, released in 2016, served as the comedian’s big break largely due to the viral popularity of the story about his booze-fuelled trip abroad to Russia as a college student. This won’t be the first time a Kreischer story has been adapted for the big screen, as the Ryan Reynolds movie National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, also took inspiration from Kreischer.
Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment