Brexit trailer release: Benedict Cumberbatch plays bald brexit mastermind

HBO has released a trailer for its new telefilm Brexit, produced in collaboration with BBC Studios, Channel 4, and House Productions, that shows Benedict Cumberbatch as Dominic Cummings, the man who spearheaded the Vote Leave campaign, which resulted in U.K. voters opting to leave the European Union.

“Everyone knows who won,” Cumberbatch says in the trailer, “but not everyone knows how.”

The film, directed by Toby Haynes, hopes to enlighten viewers—taking them behind the curtain to show how Cummings ‘hacked the political system’ exploiting people’s fears about immigration and race on social media.

The film premieres January 19—about two and a half years after the Brexit vote. Cumberbatch told The Spectator that he was drawn to the script written by James Graham. He said,

‘I’ve been a big fan of James Graham from This House onwards and I thought how extraordinary that I’m reading a script that reads like a thriller when I know the outcome. I’m being sucked into it — these characters, their intelligence, the wit of it, the emotional power of the drama. I realized this is what drama can do at its best.’

In addition to Cumberbatch, Brexit features Rory Kinnear as Craig Oliver, Prime Minister David Cameron’s director of communications and head of the Remain campaign.