2015 Oscars: ‘A Most Violent Year’ enters the race with a trailer, release date, poster and category placement for Jessica Chastain

After months and months of nothing more than a few set pics and some productions stills, A24 put all its cards on the table today to reveal the poster and teaser trailer for A Most Violent Year. Written and directed by Academy Award nominee J.C. Chandor (Margin Call) and starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain, the film details one of the bloodiest years in New York City’s history, 1981.

Also revealed were the film’s release date of December 31st (limited) with a platform to follow in January. Plus, after much debate amongst the Oscar blogging crowd it appears that Chastain will compete in Lead and not Supporting as generally expected. Probably a good move as Lead Actress had up until recently been at a stalemate of Reese Witherspoon, Rosamund Pike, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep (don’t believe the folks who think Streep is going Supporting here) with that fifth spot up for grabs. Now that Julianne Moore has entered the race with Still Alice and Felicity Jones possibly joining in for The Theory of Everything we’ve finally got a real contest on our hands.

Can A24 pull off a strong campaign for Chastain with that late a release date though? They made a valiant effort with James Franco’s bid for a Supporting Actor nod for Spring Breakers but no one really took it seriously. This will test the small studio to see if they can play with the big boys (and girls) for those Oscar nominations. Check out the poster and trailer below.