It says “December” on this glorious new posters for David O. Russell’s American Hustle. But it doesn’t specify which year. If we were to guess, we’d put the design of this one-sheets somewhere around 1977-78, when Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith were adorning similar poster that hung on walls in almost every bedroom in America. (Ask you parents. It really was a thing.) Sony has released five character posters for Russell’s upcoming con movie, a period drama that tackles the infamous ABSCAM scandal. Jennifer Lawrence kicks things off (above), while the rest of the cast follows.You can click on any of them to see them larger
So wait, Bradley Cooper is playing Todd Phillips in this movie? Who knew?
Hustle actually tells of an elaborate sting operation launched by the FBI. It used criminals and con artists in a scheme to trap corrupt politicians. And to everyone’s surprise, the line of dirty thieving politicians stretched all the way up to Congress. That statement was shocking in the 1970s and early ‘80s, when the ABSCAM scandal rocked the Philadelphia area. Today, we’d take that truth in stride.
The posters remind us that Russell will reunite with so many actors with which he’s already worked. Lawrence won an Oscar for her work in the director’s The Silver Linings Playbook (alongside Cooper). Adams and Bale are holdovers from The Fighter. Renner is the newcomer, and the wild card in this ensemble. And as much as I adore the period details in these delicious posters, it is the trailer for American Hustle that has us most excited. God, I love when Russell uses Led Zeppelin in his movies:
Hustle is one of the remaining Oscar contenders we’re waiting to lay our eyes on. It has the potential to drop into the middle of the ongoing race and just suck up all the oxygen. We’ll see if it connects soon enough, as it’s scheduled to reach theaters in weeks.
