Collateral Beauty trailer: Helen Mirren plays Death in Will Smith tearjerker

Edward Norton, Kate Winsley, Naomie Harris and Michael Peña co-star.

After a brief sojourn as Will Smith kicking ass in Suicide Squad, Will Smith is returning to Will Smith is sad and contemplating mortality roles in Collateral Beauty, which looks a bit like Seven Pounds with an It’s a Wonderful Life twist.

It sees him play a once-successful businessman who has fallen into a deep depression. Implored by his friends to take action and not sure what else to do, he starts writing and mailing letters to abstract, super dramatic themes like love, time and death.

Here’s the thing: they write back! And Helen Mirren is death! And Keira Knightley is Love! and Jacob Latimore (relative newcomer) is Time!

Though most would be thrilled to suddenly have Helen Mirren as a companion spouting sage wisdom about how to live, Smith’s protagonist is initially skeptical. He slowly allows himself to be guided by these forces however, and starts to get his life back together.

Here’s the official (although not particularly elucidating) synopsis:

‘When a successful New York advertising executive (Will Smith) experiences a deep personal tragedy and retreats from life entirely, his colleagues devise a drastic plan to force him to confront his grief in a surprising and profoundly human way.’

David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) is directing, with the screenplay coming from Allan Loeb (Rock of Ages). Edward Norton, Kate Winsley, Naomie Harris and Michael Peña co-star.

Collateral Beauty opens in US cinemas 16 December (doing battle with Star Wars: Rogue One) and UK cinemas 26 December.