‘Alice’ Trailer: Keke Palmer & Common Headline Sundance Revenge Thriller Inspired by True Events

Keke Palmer, at 28 years old, has already become a star on TV and in the music business. But since her breakthrough performance in 2006’s “Akeelah and the Bee,” she’s rarely played the lead role in a major feature built around her performance. 

READ MORE: ‘Alice’ Review: Keke Palmer & Common Star In A Blaxploitation-Inspired Thriller

Palmer will do exactly that in “Alice,” an upcoming revenge thriller from first-time writer/director Krystin Ver Linden. Based on true events from the 1970s, the plot is reminiscent of 2020’s “Antebellum,” which juxtaposed the present day with the pre-Civil War American South. “Alice,” however, sets its story of racial awakening and empowerment in two pasts simultaneously. 

Here’s the official synopsis: 

Alice yearns for freedom as an enslaved person on a rural Georgia plantation. After a violent clash with its brutal and disturbed owner, Paul, she flees through the neighboring woods and stumbles onto the unfamiliar sight of a highway, soon discovering the year is actually 1973. Rescued on the roadside by a disillusioned political activist named Frank, Alice quickly comprehends the lies that have kept her in bondage and the promise of Black liberation. Inspired by true events, Alice is a modern empowerment story tracing Alice’s journey through the post-Civil Rights Era American South.

The film was picked up by Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment before making waves at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The key supporting players are Common (“John Wick: Chapter 2”) as Frank and Jonny Lee Miller (“Elementary,” “Dark Shadows”) as Paul. The cast also includes Gaius Charles (“Queens,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) and Alicia Witt (“Orange Is The New Black,” “Nashville”). 

“Alice” is scheduled to hit theaters on March 18. Check out the trailer below.