Jeremiah O’Keefe (Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones) is a pillar of his community. A decorated World War II veteran and former two-term mayor of his hometown of Biloxi, Mississippi, he and his wife Annette (Pamela Reed) have raised their family while running a funeral home and burial insurance business. When Jeremiah runs into financial trouble, he worries about destroying his legacy and his beloved business, which had been in his family for over a century.
To avoid bankruptcy, he agrees to sell three of his eight funeral homes to The Loewen Group, a multi-national funeral home conglomerate run by Ray Loewen (Bill Camp). However, months after the paperwork is drawn, the deal still isn’t fully executed. Realizing that Loewen is stalling for time, Jeremiah decides to sue and hires Willie E. Gary.
Willie E. Gary (Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx) is a personal injury attorney and real showman. He knows his way around a courtroom and can play to any judge or jury. With his wife Gloria (Amanda Warren) by his side, he’s worked his way up from poverty to become one of the most successful and wealthy attorneys in the country.
Initially, Willie has no intention of taking on a contract law dispute. Then Hal Dockins (Mamoudou Athie), a young Black attorney on Jeremiah’s team and a college friend of his son, convinces Willie that their case has the potential of being extremely lucrative and could result in a groundbreaking victory that would catapult his career to even greater heights.
Willie wastes no time, demanding no less than a $100 million from Loewen, a seemingly outrageous sum that draws jeers from Loewen’s lawyers. But Loewen isn’t laughing. Instead, he hires a prominent attorney by the name of Mame Downes (Jurnee Smollett). The legal battle takes surprising turns that raise the stakes even higher, but outside of the courtroom, Jerry and Willie find common ground and a mutual respect that makes the outcome of the trial about more than money.
Inspired by true events, The Burial is based on The New Yorker article of the same name by Jonathan Harr, with a screenplay co-written by Doug Wright and Maggie Betts, who also directs, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Jamie Foxx, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, Pamela Reed, with Bill Camp and Alan Ruck. Producers are Celine Rattray, p.g.a., Trudie Styler, p.g.a., Jamie Foxx, p.g.a., Datari Turner, p.g.a., Jenette Kahn, p.g.a., Adam Richman, p.g.a., Bobby Shriver, p.g.a..
The team behind the camera includes casting by Kim Coleman, CSA, music supervisor Liza Richardson, music by Michael Abels, edited by Lee Percy, ACE, Jay Cassidy, ACE, production designer Kay Lee, director of photography Maryse Alberti.
Amazon MGM Studios presents, a Double Nickel Entertainment, Bobby Shriver Productions, Foxxhole Productions, and Maven Screen Media Production, The Burial, in select theaters October 6 and streaming globally on Prime Video October 13.
