The newest trailer for Netflix’s upcoming thriller The Guilty teases another powerhouse performance from celebrated talent Jake Gyllenhaal. The Academy Award nominated actor stars as a troubled police detective demoted to 911 operator duty, who scrambles to save a distressed caller during a harrowing day of revelations and reckonings.
The events of The Guilty take place over the course of a single morning in a 911 dispatch call center. Call operator Joe Bayler (Jake Gyllenhaal) tries to save a caller in grave danger, but he soon discovers that nothing is as it seems, and facing the truth is the only way out. Mostly made up of close-ups of both Gyllenhaal’s concerned expression and his computer monitor, &The Guilty&should provide Netflix viewers with a minimal, but no less emotional thrill ride.
The project sees Gyllenhaal team up once again with Southpaw director Antoine Fuqua for this remake of the outstanding Danish thriller of the same name, with the supporting cast consisting of several big names, including Ethan Hawke, Riley Keough, Christina Vidal, Eli Goree, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Paul Dano, Bill Burr, and Peter Sarsgaard.
Released in 2018, the original The Guilty takes place exclusively in one location, and similarly follows alarm dispatcher and former police officer, Asger Holm, who answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. Co-written and directed by Gustav M&öller in his feature film debut, the movie stars Jakob Cedergren as Asger Holm and Jessica Dinnage as Iben &Østerg&ård, the voice at the other end of the line. Full of gut-wrenching twists and turns, and a stellar central performance, The Guilty made the shortlist for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, and currently sits at a deliciously fresh 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Thanks to this much longer trailer, it is now clear that Netflix’s adaptation of the Danish flick will follow the same basic premise, as well as utilize the same creative choices such as a (mostly) single location and a powerful performance at the movie’s center, with the English-language version anchored of course by Jake Gyllenhaal. Limiting the actor, who over the years has emerged as one this generations most exciting talents thanks to roles in the likes of Brokeback Mountain, Nightcrawler, and Prisoners, to a chair, desk, and telephone should prove to be an intensely entertaining experience, and is certainly The Guilty’s biggest draw.
While there will somewhat justifiably be some groans from those who cannot fathom why anyone would remake a movie that is already considered to be near-perfect, it’s likely that Netflix’s The Guilty will at the very least provide some new twists and turns of its own.
The Guilty has been written by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto, with the movie set to be produced by Gyllenhaal and his Nine Stories partner Riva Marker, along with Antoine Fuqua through his Fuqua Films, among others. The Guilty is scheduled to have its world premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2021, and is scheduled to be released in a limited release on September 24, 2021, prior to streaming on Netflix on October 1.