Susan Sarandon’s Son Is Kidnapped in Viper Club Trailer

Oscar winner Susan Sarandon leads the new trailer for YouTube Originals’ Viper Club, the site’s first theatrically released original film.

Sarandon plays Helen Sterling, a mother and ER nurse looking to free her son, a war journalist who’s been captured by terrorists in the Middle East, with a $20 million ransom set for his release. After the FBI and State Department warn her not to negotiate with terrorists, she goes rogue, with a “clandestine community of journalists, advocates, and philanthropists” pitching in to help her raise the ransom money. Joining Helen on her quest are photojournalist Sam (Matt Bomer) and wealthy New Yorker Charlotte (Edie Falco), whose son was also kidnapped by terrorists.

Rounding out the cast are Lola Kirke, Julian Morris, Sheila Vand and Adepero Oduye.

Viper Club comes from Iranian-American director Maryam Keshavarz, who last directed 2011’s Iranian lesbian romance Circumstance, and who co-wrote Viper Club along with Jonathan Mastro. The film was also produced by Anna Gerb, Neal Dodson and All Is Lost and A Most Violent Year director J.C. Chandor.

Unlike rival Netflix, which typically drops its original films in theaters and on its service same-day, Viper Club will be getting a theatrical release ahead of its launch on YouTube’s platform. YouTube Originals and Roadside Attractions will open Viper Club in theaters on Oct. 26 before it hits YouTube Premium in 2019. With all the flack Netflix has gotten for the theatrical rollouts of its originals, we’ll have to see how well YouTube’s more traditional strategy for its first endeavor works out for them.

See the Viper Club trailer and poster below.