For his final film role, James Van Der Beek transforms into a sinister pastor named Jacob in the upcoming thriller The Gates.
A trailer for the movie was released on Feb 18, just one week after Van Der Beek’s wife, Kimberly, announced his death on Feb 11 from colorectal cancer. He was 48.
The film also stars Mason Gooding, Keith Powers and Algee Smith as a trio of friends on a “road trip gone wrong,” according to the movie’s description.
Rather than sit in traffic, the group decides to take “an ill-advised shortcut through a remote gated community, where they find themselves trapped behind the walls” after they witness Van Der Beek’s Jacob commit a murder.
“Over the course of the night, they find themselves blamed, hunted and fractured by their own differing belief systems, while the perpetrator emerges as the cunning patriarch that holds the entire community under his influence,” the synopsis reads.
An intense Van Der Beek appears on several occasions throughout the trailer, oftentimes threatening violence and bragging of his power.
“I have been called upon to lead this community,” he says in the clip. “Those boys seek to destroy us.”
In a statement to Collider, The Gates writer and director John Burr remembered Van Der Beek as a “legend,” going on to describe how “his charisma and energy were evident immediately” when they first met up to discuss the project.
“We were incredibly fortunate to have worked with him on this film,” Burr said.
“He brought experience and perspective to the role, and he built profound relationships with his fellow cast members and with the crew,” he continued.
“While he was deeply dedicated to his performance as the flawed, amoral antagonist of our story, between scenes he effortlessly morphed back into the grounded, charming conversationalist he was at his core.”
The Gates is set to hit theatres in the United States on March 13.
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