Joshua Leonard’s name is one I confess I haven’t heard much of in the past. He was one of the leads in The Blair Witch Project way back when, but hasn’t done a huge amount since then.

Until now, that is. Making his directorial feature debut with The Lie, Joshua Leonard has helmed and starred in what looks to be a fantastic indie film, based on a short story by American writer, TC Boyle.

The film’s great first poster has been released over at The Playlist, and Apple have given us its brilliant first trailer – two terrific firsts for what should be an excellent film, that just goes to show you don’t need an A-list cast and millions upon millions of dollars to make a great movie.

“When they first met, Lonnie and Clover were young idealists, but an unplanned baby forced them to flip the script. Lonnie put his music on hold and got a shitty job. And now Clover is abandoning her activism for an “opportunity” in the corporate world. Drowning in disappointments, Lonnie decides he needs some time off work to reexamine his life. He calls in sick, but his abusive boss demands he show up or get fired. Lonnie panics and tells a shocking lie to justify his absence – and once the lie is out, there’s no going back. Now it’s only a matter of time before the grenade he’s thrown on his life explodes and Lonnie is suddenly pushed to figure out who he is, what he wants, and just maybe, what it means to be a father.”

Alongside Leonard in the lead, The Lie also stars Kelli Garner (Lars and the Real Girl), Alia Shawkat (TV’s Arrested Development), Mark Webber (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Jess Weixler (Teeth), Garry Bednob (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), and Kirk Baltz (Reservoir Dogs), from a script co-written by Leonard, Webber, and Weixler.

It might not be genre re-defining, but it sounds like a pretty strong premise to me, and the trailer certainly shows a lot of promise for a drama that will probably have some nice doses of comedy in there too. The film is getting a limited US release on 18th November and a simultaneous Video on Demand release as well, and unfortunately that probably means we won’t be getting it in our cinemas. But here’s to hoping that it will come out on DVD sometime early next year. Without further ado, here’s the great first trailer followed by the poster. Enjoy.

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