Brendan Gleeson & Don Cheadle Team Up In THE GUARD Official Trailer

The Guard, directed and written by John Michael McDonagh, was the Official Selection at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and won ‘Best Debut Film – Honorable Mention’ at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival. From Sony Pictures Classic, watch Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson in the trailer for THE GUARD.

SYNOPSIS

THE GUARD is a comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption. Two policemen must join forces to take on an international drug-smuggling gang – one, an unorthodox Irish policeman and the other, a straitlaced FBI agent.

Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleason) is an eccentric small-town cop with a confrontational and crass personality and a subversive sense of humor. A longtime policeman in County Galway, Boyle is a maverick with his own moral code. He has seen enough of the world to know there isn’t much to it and has had plenty of time to think about it.

When a fellow police officer disappears and Boyle’s small town becomes key to a large drug trafficking investigation, he is forced to at least feign interest when dealing with the humorless FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) assigned to the case. Left to run his territory to his liking for many years, he is not at all impressed when the FBI comes to town.

Agent Everett has led an American life of privilege, complete with the highest levels of formal education. Consumed with his pursuit of justice, Everett has no interest in the district of Connemara other than as a backdrop to solve the case. He underestimates the townspeople, especially Sergeant Boyle. Everett looks down on Boyle as a low-level provincial policeman with a limited and flippant view of the world. Boyle sees Everett as a by-the-book policeman with a chip on his shoulder and no understanding of how the real world runs.

Despite the fact that Boyle seems more interested in mocking and undermining Everett than in actively working to solve the case, Boyle finds that circumstances keep pulling him back into the thick of it. First, his tiresomely enthusiastic new partner disappears. Then his favorite hooker attempts to blackmail him into turning a blind eye to the case. Finally the drug-traffickers he’s trying to find try to buy him off – as they have every other member of the local police force.

As unconventional as Boyle is, these events unwittingly offend his murky moral code. He realizes that he needs to take matters into his own hands, and that Everett is the only person he can trust. And so the scene is set for an unlikely friendship and explosive finale.

THE GUARD stars Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Dominique McElligott, Sarah Greene and Katarina Cas. Shot by Larry Smith against the epic grandeur of Ireland, the scenery juxtaposes with the inventive soundtrack from Americana/alternative country band Calexico. Written by John Michael McDonagh (Ned Kelly), THE GUARD marks McDonagh’s feature directorial debut.

THE GUARD opens in NY and LA on July 29, 2011.