Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Warner Brothers released the trailer Wednesday for Just Mercy, based on the true story of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative.
Michael B. Jordan plays Stevenson, a lawyer who decides to use his Harvard degree to represent wrongly convicted defendants and others who need proper representation. He takes the case of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), a man the Alabama courts sentenced to death in 1987 despite evidence of his innocence.
The trailer shows Stevenson visiting McMillian in prison. McMillian is not an easy sell as he's already resigned that the legal system is against him. The trailer also shows Stevenson teaming up with Eve Ansley (Larson) and opening the Equal Justice Initiative, which still serves clients.
"It's never too late for justice," Stevenson says in the trailer. "If we can look at ourselves closely, we can change this world for the better. We all need grace. We all need mercy."
The trailer also shows another inmate thanking Stevenson for his work, suggesting that Just Mercy can touch on more than the McMillian case. Stevenson successfully got the court to overturn McMillian's conviction in 1993.
Writers Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lantham adapted Stevenson's book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption into the screenplay. Cretton directs. Larson appeared in Cretton's previous movies Short Term 12 and The Glass Castle.
Jordan and Stevenson also produce along with Gil Netter, Asher Goldstein, Mike Drake, Niija Kuykendall, Gabriel Hammond, Daniel Hammond, Scott Budnick, Jeff Skoll and Charles D. King.
Just Mercy arrives in select theaters Christmas Day and opens nationwide Jan. 10.
