New Trailer for Mike Leigh's 'Mr. Turner' Starring Timothy Spall

Mike Leigh's last film was four years ago with the wonderful, seasonal drama Another Year, but he made his return to Cannes with the period biopic, Mr. Turner. Starring Timothy Spall in a rare leading turn, his performance as controversial landscape artist J.M.W. Turner earned him Cannes' Best Actor award, and elevated him to Oscar hopeful for later this year. As the film makes its way stateside, a new U.S. trailer has been released. Here's the official synopsis:

MR. TURNER explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies.

Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.

Sony Pictures Classics will roll out Mr. Turner on December 19th.