The Boys in the Boat trailer brings the George Clooney-directed underdog story to you this Christmas

Prepare to feel inspired! The Boys in the Boat trailer is about to make you feel like you could conquer whatever hardships the world throws at you. Based on the #1 New York Times bestselling non-fiction novel by Daniel James Brown, The Boys in the Boat is about the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. This inspirational true story follows a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the globe.

In The Boys in the Boat trailer, young men want to make something of themselves (and pay student debt loans while at it) by joining the University of Washington rowing team. With organizers of the sport and rival teams brushing the Olympic hopefuls off like sliding droplets or lake water, perseverance eventually wins for a history-making display of determination and athletic prowess.

“Rowing, particularly in the 1920s, was one of the most-attended sports in the United States,” Clooney said about the film in a behind-the-scenes video. “The Boys in the Boat is about strong, tough kids. But they were poor and hungry. They’re rowing because it’s the only way they could stay in college. The stakes were much higher for them, and it gave them an edge. These guys at the University of Washington taking on the seniors, then taking on the fraternity kids, and then taking on the Nazis. Every film we’ve ever seen that has an underdog in it, you’re always rooting for.”

Clooney directs from a screenplay by Mark L. Smith. Joel Edgerton (Boy Erased, The Great Gatsby), Callum Turner (Green Room, Queen & Country), and Courtney Henggler (Cobra Kai, Nobody’s Fool) lead the cast, with Hadley Robinson, Chris Diamantopoulos, Jack Mulhern, James Wolk, Alec Newman, Peter Guinness, Sam Strike, and Thomas Elms. Grant Heslov and George Clooney produce, with Kevin Ultich, Barbara A. Hall, Gary Barber, and Peter Oillataguerre executive producing. 

With an inspired score arranged by Alexandre Desplat, The Boys in the Boat paddles its way into cinemas on Christmas Day, December 25, this holiday season.