Aaron Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago 7 will debut on Netflix on October 16th

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Earlier this month, Netflix shelled out the big bucks to acquire Aaron Sorkin's THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, and the streaming service has now announced that the star-studded drama will be debut on October 16, 2020.

Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 follows "protest organizers Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden and Bobby Seale at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, what went from a peaceful protest to a violent clash with the National Guard. The foursome were charged with conspiracy to incite a riot and the trial that followed was one of the most notorious in history." You can check out a handful of images from the film below.

The film features one hell of a cast, which includes Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Alex Sharp, Jeremy Strong, Noah Robbins, Danny Flahery, Ben Skenkman, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Caitlin Fitzgerald, Alice Kremelberg, John Doman, J.C. MacKenzie, Damien Young, Wayne Duvall, and C.J. Wilson.

"It’s a great courtroom drama," Sorkin said while speaking with Vanity Fair, adding that the trial is one of three stories he wanted to tell in the movie, with the second being the evolution of the riot. "How did we go from what was supposed to be a peaceful anti-war demonstration to this incredibly bloody and violent confrontation?" The third story is a "more personal and emotional" story which explores the bond that developed between Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden, "two people who didn't get along very well at the beginning and came to have a lot of respect for each other." The film will also contain moments of levity, but Sorkin warned that "in our movie we use that humor to fool you for a second before we punch you in the gut." THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 will debut on Netflix on October 16, 2020.