Lionsgate has released the first trailer for The Protégé, a new action-thriller starring Maggie Q, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Keaton. The film opens in theaters on August 20th.
The Protégé stars Maggie Q as Anna, a contract killer who was rescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody (Jackson) and trained as his protégé. When Moody is brutally killed, Anna plots revenge against his murderer (Keaton) in a weaving cat-and-mouse game. The trailer shows off plenty of knife fights, shootouts, and Bond-like glamour mixed with other harrowing action scenes, including one sequence where Anna dodges a shower of bullets while crawling on tiptoes through an air vent.
“I just want to end their life — and anyone standing in my way,” Anna tells Keaton’s character over dinner in the trailer. Later, when he tells her he’d love to meet again under better circumstances, she quips, “These are the best circumstances you’ll ever see me in.”
The Protégé is directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, GoldenEye, The Mask of Zorro) and written by Richard Wenk. The film is produced by Arthur Sarkissian, Moshe Diamant, Rob Van Norden, Yariv Lerner, and ChrisMilburn, and was shot on location in London, Bucharest, and Da Nang, Vietnam.