Get ready, people: Brad Pitt is sliding into your Netflix queue. (Ew, nevermind.) The actor is starring in an upcoming movie called War Machine, a biting satirical spin on the American war in Afghanistan. Pitt plays General Glen McMahon, a character based on controversial General Stanley McChrystal. The film is adapted from late journalist Michael Hastings' explosive 2012 account of his travels with McChrystal and his inner circle, The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan. (Hastings also penned the bombshell 2010 Rolling Stone article that caused McChrystal to resign for his team's mocking and badmouthing of Obama administration officials.)
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Based on the first full-length trailer for War Machine, the film is going to be as wild a ride as the book. Pitt is looking quite different in makeup and white-silver hair. His "rock star" General is best known as "the man who kicked Al-Qaeda in the sac," and he seems like a total ass. Gen. McMahon says things like this: "We are here to build, to protect, to support the civilian population. And to that end, you must avoid killing it at all costs. We can't help them and kill them at the same time. It just ain't humanly possible." Only Brad Pitt could deliver this line with a straight face and remain likable.
Clearly, War Machine is not interested in being P.C. or clearing anyone's conscience about the war; it's meant to make some political points about America's military and foreign policy — in addition to making us laugh, of course. Plus, the stacked supporting cast includes the likes of Tilda Swinton, Topher Grace, Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out), and Ben Kingsley.