Long before he was Agent Phil Coulson, Clark Gregg was one of those familiar actors who popped up in a garden variety of films like WE WERE SOLDIERS, SPARTAN, MAGNOLIA, and A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, as well as TV shows like The West Wing, The Shield (that’s right, folks, not his first rodeo), and The New Adventures of Old Christine. He also wrote and directed an adaptation of FIGHT CLUB author Chuck Palahniuk’s CHOKE in 2008, an underrated pic that fully captured the essence of the source material and brought in some great performances by Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston.
Now, in between suiting up for his role as Phil Coulson for his new S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show and Marvel films, Gregg is preparing to debut hes second feature, TRUST ME, at the Tribeca Film Festival and today we have the first clip from the film, which co-stars CHOKE’s Sam Rockwell, Amanda Peet, Allison Janney, and Felicity Huffman. The premise is a lot of fun, “seeing a struggling agent for child actors and former child star himself (Gregg) spends years losing his most talented clients to his slick, arch-nemesis Aldo Shocklee (Rockwell). Kind of like JERRY MAGUIRE only with child stars.
Here’s the clip:
Here’s the synopsis:
A struggling agent for child actors and former child star himself, Howard Holloway spends years losing his most talented clients to his slick, arch-nemesis Aldo Shocklee. Until the day that Howard encounters the brilliant and unsigned 13 year-old Lydia who is on the brink of securing the lead in a new Twilight-style franchise. Howard tries desperately to close the deal of a lifetime and make his precocious young client a star while managing her drunk, volatile father, Aldo’s relentless poaching attempts, and the hostile machinations of the project’s casting director and mega producer, who both despise him. But the closer he gets to achieving the Hollywood score he has chased all his life, the more he develops a growing suspicion that his innocent young starlet may not be at all what she seems.
Gregg has earned a righteous place in Hollywood these days, due largely to his role in the Marvel films, but he’s got more to offer than just the quips and humility of Agent Phil Coulson and I think it’s great that he’s pursuing both ends. He’s got talent on all fronts and it’s nice to see him continue to explore his passion.
TRUST ME, starring Clark Gregg, Sam Rockwell, Amanda Peet, Allison Janney, and Felicity Huffman debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2013. A release date will soon follow.