Promised Land is the upcoming film from director Gus Van Sant which was written by Matt Damon and John Krasinski, the two leading men of the film, and tells the story of a corporation intent on buying into a small town and carrying out an operation to mine for natural gas using a process known as Fracking.

Not only does the film star the writers Damon and Krasinski but it also stars Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lucas Black, Titus Welliver, Hal Holbrook, Scoot McNairy and Tim Guinee. It's a strong cast and some great talent behind what could be an interesting story.

However I'm not totally sold by the trailer which does look like it's telling a similar story that we've seen before in other guises. You can almost smell the plot from here where the leading character, the salesman whose job it is to sell the idea of the corporation and the mining operation to the people and get them to sign over their land, is going to slowly turn to their way of thinking and end up loving them again. Is it me or does this seem a little like a serious Doc Hollywood, just substituting a Doctor for an evil corporation salesman?

Still there's a lot of talent there behind the pen and the camera so I have to hope I'm wrong, but the trailer doesn't do anything to alleviate that idea.

Here's the blurb for Promised Land:

Corporate salesman Steve Butler (Damon) arrives in a rural town with his sales partner, Sue Thomason (McDormand). With the town having been hit hard by the economic decline of recent years, the two outsiders see the local citizens as likely to accept their company's offer, for drilling rights to their properties, as much-needed relief. What seems like an easy job for the duo becomes complicated by the objection of a respected schoolteacher (Holbrook) with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man (Krasinski) who counters Steve both personally and professionally.

The trailer comes through The Hollywood Reporter and can be seen right here:

Well what do you think? Is it just the trailer and should I have more faith in the excellent cast, Matt Damon and John Krasinski writing and Gus Van Sant directing?