Back in May during the Cannes Film Festival one of the movies that was in competition showed up on my radar: Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn from the novel by James Sallis. The film went on to win the Best Director award for Refn, the Denmark-born filmmaker whose credits include the Pusher trilogy, Bronson, and Valhalla Rising. Last week the first trailer for Drive was released following the film’s panel at the San Diego Comic-Con.

You can watch the trailer here below. Be warned though; it’s a red band trailer.

The plot follows a Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) who moonlights as a “wheelman,” a getaway driver for various criminals. His double life gets compromised when he becomes involved with a woman (Carey Mulligan) and her ex-con husband (Oscar Issac) and finds himself running for his life from a crime boss (Albert Brooks) and his associate (Ron Perlman). Christina Hendricks and Bryan Cranston co-star and Oscar-nominated writer Hossein Amini (The Wings of the Dove) adapted the screenplay. The film also features heavyweight behind-the-camera talent like cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel (Three Kings, The Usual Suspects) and music composer Cliff Martinez (Narc).

Drive opens on September 16, 2011.

Trailer