How do you end segregation and racial inequality in America? In the first trailer for “The Banker” starring Samuel L. Jackson and Anthony Mackie, you do it by buying land back from white folks one plot at a time.
“The Banker” is based on the true story of two real estate investors and businessmen, Bernard Garrett (Mackie) and Joe Morris (Jackson), who managed to buy banks and homes in all-white neighborhoods and loan it back to black people looking to find their own American dream in a still segregated world that made that dream difficult.
But to manage their risky plan, they trained a working class white man, Matt Steiner (Nicholas Hoult), to pose as them in all their business transactions and learn how to talk to rich white people. Eventually though, their plan caught the attention of the federal government that made it a little more complicated.
“There’s a few complexities you just left out,” Jackson says to Mackie as he’s explaining the plan. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I not wake up black this morning? Because I’m pretty sure I did. Yep! Still black.”
George Nolfi directs “The Banker,” which also stars Nia Long and was written by Niceole Levy, Nolfi, David Lewis Smith and Stan Younger from a story by David Lewis Smith, Stan Younger and Brad Caleb Kane.
“The Banker” is based on a true story, and it’s the first narrative feature film that Apple is releasing via their Apple TV+ platform. It will first make its premiere at the AFI Film Festival between Nov. 14 to Nov. 21, and then it will open in theaters on Dec. 6. It will then become available for streaming on Apple TV+ in 2020.
Watch the trailer above.
For the record: A previous version of this story said “The Banker” would debut on Apple TV+ on Dec. 6. It will open theatrically on Dec. 6 followed by a streaming rollout in 2020.