MGM debuted a new official trailer for American Fiction, the award-winning satire drama film starring Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a frustrated author and professor of English literature who jokingly writes an outlandishly stereotypical “Black” book out of spite, only for the book to be published and receive widespread fame and acclaim. It is based on the 2001 novel Erasure by Percival Everett.

Also starring in the film are Tracee Ellis Ross as Lisa Ellison, Erika Alexander as Coraline, Issa Rae as Sintara Golden, and Sterling K. Brown as Cliff Ellison.

Release Date

Directed by Cord Jefferson, making his feature directorial debut, American Fiction is now playing in select theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Austin; expanding to additional cities this Friday, then everywhere this January.

Synopsis

American Fiction is Cord Jefferson’s hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.

Official Trailer

Watch the official trailer for American Fiction