It’s been a little over two years since director David Ayer’s next movie following Netflix’s Bright, The Tax Collector, was officially announced, with filming occurring from July to August of 2018. Since then, updates on The Tax Collector have been relatively light, but now the movie’s first trailer has finally dropped, giving us our first taste of footage showing off Shia LaBeouf’s character in his illegal line of work. Take a look!
Like so many of David Ayer’s movies, The Tax Collector delves into the world of crime. In this particular tale, we follow along with Shia LaBeouf’s Creeper and Bobby Soto’s David, two “tax collectors” who work for a crime lord known as Wizard. It’s their job to collect Wizard’s cut of the profits from local gangs’ illicit dealings and operations, and clearly Creeper has no problems with the intimidation portion of his duties. He’s even earned the nickname “The Devil.”
While Creeper is content fully immersing himself in the world of violence and terror, David, on the other hand, balances his life of crime with a loving family away from that craziness. However, both men’s lives are complicated when Wizard’s formal rival returns to Los Angeles from Mexico, resulting in their business being upended. This leads to David and Creeper going to great lengths to secure the safety of the former’s family, with plenty of bullets flying and explosions igniting along the way.
Along with Shia LaBeouf and Bobby Soto, The Tax Collector’s cast includes George Lopez, Lana Parrila, Cynthia Carmona, Jay Reeves, Chelsea Rendon, Cheyanne Hernandez, Gabriela Flores, Elpidia Carrillo, Brian Ortega, Brendan Schaub and Jose Martin. In addition to his directorial duties, David Ayer also wrote the script and produced alongside Chris Long, Tyler Thompson and Matt Antoun.
The Tax Collector marks Shia LaBeouf’s second time working with David Ayer, having previously starred in the filmmaker’s 2014 movie, Fury, which chronicled a U.S. tank crew fighting in Nazi Germany during the closing days of World War II. LaBeouf’s involvement in The Tax Collector was announced a little less than a month before the movie began filming, and by August 2018, we got our first look at the actor in all his tattooed glory to bring his intense character to life.
Still, it’s nice to finally have Tax Collector footage to absorb, and it’ll be interesting to see how the movie’s received, particularly Shia LaBeouf’s performance. This movie comes after his impressive 2019, having appeared in Honey Boy (which he also wrote) and The Peanut Butter Falcon, both of which were met with critical acclaim. The actor also has Pieces of a Woman coming up for a yet-to-be-determined release date.
The Tax Collector drops on VOD and in select theaters on August 7. As for what else is supposed to hit the big screen later this year, you can find that information in our 2020 release schedule.
