The Gates trailer: horror film starring James Van Der Beek gets a limited theatrical release in March
Last week, we lost actor James Van Der Beek at the much-too-young age of 48… and today, a trailer for his final film has arrived online. Titled The Gates, this one is a horror film that’s scheduled to receive a limited theatrical release on March 13th, courtesy of Lionsgate Premiere. The trailer can be viewed in the embed above.
Cast and Synopsis
Written and directed by John Burr, The Gates follows three college students – Derek, Kevin and Tyon – on a road trip gone wrong. The trio takes an ill-advised shortcut through a remote gated community, where they find themselves trapped after witnessing a murder. Over the course of the night, they are blamed, hunted and fractured by their own differing belief systems, while the perpetrator (played by Van Der Beek) emerges as the cunning patriarch who holds the entire community under his influence.
Van Der Beek is joined in the cast by Mason Gooding (Scream 7), Algee Smith (Euphoria), and Keith Powers (The Tomorrow War), who play the college students, as well as Jack Snyder (The Wife Who Knew Too Much), Brad Leland (Friday Night Lights), Sofia Hublitz (Ozark), Shelby Simmons (A Big Bold Beautiful Journey), Kylr Coffman (New Year’s Rev), and Natacha Ellie (Hello Beautiful).
The film has been rated R for violence, language, some sexual references, and brief drug use.
Director’s Statement
Burr shared the following statement with Deadline and Collider: “Before all else, I want to send sympathy and love to James’ family; his wife Kimberly, and his children Olivia, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, Joshua and Jeremiah. Thank you for granting us the precious time with him that we had.
James was a legend. I first met him at a cafe just outside Austin to chat about the script for a film we wanted to work on together. His charisma and energy were evident immediately. He was a man of great conviction, and it was clear that he approached life with a unique sense of passion and dedication that he applied to everything from his work, to his family, to the life he’d built in rural Texas after the early success of his career.
We were incredibly fortunate to have worked with him on this film. He brought experience and perspective to the role, and he built profound relationships with his fellow cast members and with the crew. And while he was deeply dedicated to his performance as the flawed, amoral antagonist of our story, between scenes he effortlessly morphed back into the grounded, charming conversationalist he was at his core. He never missed an opportunity to speak glowingly of his wife, brag about his kids, laugh about the lighter moments in his career, or to ask others what was going on in their lives. His energy was contagious. None of us knew that he was already deep into his battle, and we were all shocked to learn with the rest of the world about his diagnosis.
Over the last few months, my conversations with James were limited to periodic text messages. His words were filled with energy and punctuated with exclamation points even as his health must have been in decline. Despite knowing his diagnosis, the news of his passing was shocking. In the minutes and hours after it broke, countless members of the production team have reached out, expressing grief and sharing memories, bonding in our shared love and sadness. And thus, even though he is no longer with us, his energy somehow feels like it lives on, bringing us all back together again, inspiring us to live life the way he did. I am grateful for that. And so, on behalf of the entire filmmaking team, I’d like to express our heartbreak at James’ passing, and our joy to have been so lucky to know him.“
Mason Gooding serves as an executive producer on The Gates, alongside Andy Dube, Michael Leon Cassutt, John Harris, J. Todd Harris, David Gendron, Ali Jazayeri, Viviana Zarragoitia, and Kamala Avila-Salmon. Nancy Leopardi, Ross Kohn, and Gary Glushon produced the film.
What did you think of the trailer for The Gates? Are you hoping to catch this James Van Der Beek movie on the big screen? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Van Der Beek also has a recurring role in the upcoming Prime Video series Elle, which is a prequel to the Legally Blonde movies. It’s set to premiere on July 1st.
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