‘The Birthday Cake’ Trailer: Val Kilmer’s a Mob Boss in Indie Crime Thriller

First time feature film director Jimmy Giannopoulos describes his crime drama, The Birthday Cake, as “the sequel to all your favorite mob movies.” The trailer, which has a real old-school vibe, introduces a colorful collection of dubious characters who are all somehow connected to a man who died a decade ago.

“As we were developing the story, we kept asking ourselves: What happened to all of those New York mob guys from the movies we loved as kids? Where are they now? The world has changed, but wherever there’s crime, vices, and sin… there’s always organized crime,” explains writer/director Giannopoulos.

The cast includes Shiloh Fernandez (Evil Dead), Ewan McGregor (Fargo), Val Kilmer (The Doors), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Ashley Benson (Pretty Little Liars), and Aldis Hodge (One Night in Miami). Penn Badgley (You), Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond the Pines), Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos), and Jeremy Allen White (Shameless) also star.

Shiloh Fernandez and Diomedes Raul Bermudez co-wrote the screenplay. Fernandez, Bermudez, Siena Oberman, Danny Sawaf, and Carlos Cusco served as producers.

Screen Media’s releasing The Birthday Cake in theaters and On Demand on June 18, 2021.

The Birthday Cake
Ewan McGregor and Shiloh Fernandez in ‘The Birthday Cake’ (Photo Courtesy of Screen Media)

The Plot:

On the 10th anniversary of his father’s mysterious death, Gio (Fernandez) brings a birthday cake prepared by his mother (Bracco) to a memorial celebration hosted by his uncle Angelo (Kilmer), a Brooklyn mafia boss. Gio’s life begins to change as he pieces together what really happened to his father all those years ago, coming face to face with a kind of violence he has been trying to avoid his whole life.