In his new film “Bad Education,” Hugh Jackman plays a charming, ambitious school superintendent with an eye on raising his school district to be the best in the country. The only problem is he’s wickedly corrupt.
Jackman plays Frank Tassone in this story about the biggest public school embezzlement scandal in American history. He stars alongside Allison Janney and Ray Romano as they work to raise their Long Island school district to the nation’s top spot, spurring record college and admissions and soaring property values. But when an embezzlement scheme surfaces that threatens to destroy all they’ve built, Frank is forced to maintain order and secrecy — by whatever means necessary.
“I wanted to make a difference. I got us all the way to number four, and I will get us to number one,” Jackman says in the trailer. “Get us to first, that’s all that matters,” Janney replies.
Cory Finley directed the film from a screenplay by Mike Makowsky, who based the story on a New York Magazine article by Robert Kolker. Geraldine Viswanathan, Alex Wolff, Rafael Casal and Annaleigh Ashford all co-star.
HBO picked up “Bad Education” out of the Toronto International Film Festival last fall and is now debuting it on April 25 with the plan to give it a big awards push. It will also be available on HBO On Demand, HBO NOW, HBO GO and partners’ streaming platforms.
Watch the first look for the film above.