Matt Damon and John Krasinski Lead ‘Promised Land’ Trailer

We're starting to get a good look at this year's Oscar race, and one of the newest contenders is 'Promised Land' which was directed by Gus Van Sant, and stars Matt Damon and John Krasinski. Damon and Krasinski also wrote it (from a story by Dave Eggers), so yeah, this is definitely a contender.

The film also stars Frances McDormand, Rosemary DeWitt, Hal Hollbrook, and Titus Welliver, and it's about a serious topic so it's red meat for the Academy. Here's the full poster:

Here's the synopsis:

Matt Damon plays Steve Butler, a corporate salesman who arrives in a rural town with his sales partner, Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand). With the town having been hit hard by the economic decline of recent years, the two outsiders see the local citizens as likely to accept their company’s offer, for drilling rights to their properties, as much-needed relief. What seems like an easy job for the duo becomes complicated by the objection of a respected schoolteacher (Hal Holbrook) with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man (John Krasinski) who counters Steve both personally and professionally.

And here's the trailer. 'Promised Land' is scheduled to open in limited release December 28, and will go out wide in January.