Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Warner Brothers released the trailer for Motherless Brooklyn on Thursday. Edward Norton stars with Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bobby Cannavale, Cherry Jones, Michael Kenneth Williams, Leslie Mann, Ethan Suplee, Dallas Roberts, Josh Pais, Robert Ray Wisdom, Fisher Stevens, Alec Baldwin, and Willem Dafoe. Norton also directed and adapted Jonathan Lethem's novel.
"Set against the backdrop of 1950s New York, Motherless Brooklyn follows Lionel Essrog (Norton), a lonely private detective living with Tourette Syndrome as he ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and only friend, Frank Minna (Willis)," the official synopsis reads.
The trailer shows some of Lionel's symptoms, repeating the phrase "I got threads in my heads" and blowing out every match he lights.
"Armed with only a few clues and the engine of his obsessive mind, Lionel unravels closely-guarded secrets that hold the fate of the whole city in the balance," the synopsis continues. "In a mystery that carries him from gin-soaked jazz clubs in Harlem to the hard-edged slums of Brooklyn and, finally, into the gilded halls of New York's power brokers, Lionel contends with thugs, corruption and the most dangerous man in the city to honor his friend and save the woman who might be his own salvation."
Mbatha-Raw appears to be that woman in the trailers, as Lionel tries to protect her from dangerous thugs. Even though the trailer shows Frank dying in the hospital, it appears Willis plays a major role. The trailer - and perhaps the film - spends significant time showing Frank mentor Lionel, and return in flashbacks even after he's gone.
Motherless Brooklyn is rated R for language including sexual references, brief drug use, and violence. Warner Bros. will release Motherless Brooklyn Nov. 1.
