In 1970, John Wayne won an Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn, a U.S. Marshal hired by a 14-year-old girl to track down her father’s killer, in True Grit, an adaptation of the Charles Portis novel of the same name. This year’s Coen Brothers’ adaptation of the Western is also expected be an Oscar contender, especially for last year’s Best Actor winner Jeff Bridges, who’s taking on the Cogburn role. However, in this short, promising teaser trailer, the 14-year-old narrator — Mattie Ross, played by newcomer Hailee Steinfeld — gets pride of place, suggesting the Coens are staying true to their word to stay truer to the novel than the first movie. In the trailer, Mattie grabs her gun, puts on an over-size hat, and solicits Bridges’s help. He’s got a great Wayne-ian eye patch, but it’s not even the best accessory in this trailer: that honor goes to Matt Damon’s very blond mustache, with a grizzled Josh Brolin’s angry stare (and low growl) coming a close second.
