Trailer for 'The Tempest' unveiled

The first official trailer for Julie Taymor's adaptation of The Tempest is now available. The film stars Alan Cumming as Sebastian, and the cast also includes Helen Mirren, Djimon Hounsou, David Strathairn, Alfred Molina, Russell Brand, Chris Cooper, and Ben Whishaw.

"In Julie Taymor's version of 'The Tempest,' the gender of Prospero has been switched to Prospera. Going back to the 16th or 17th century, women practicing the magical arts of alchemy were often convicted of witchcraft. In Taymor's version, Prospera is usurped by her brother and sent off with her four-year daughter on a ship. She ends up on an island; it's a tabula rasa: no society, so the mother figure becomes a father figure to Miranda. This leads to the power struggle and balance between Caliban and Prospera; a struggle not about brawn, but about intellect."

The Tempest was mostly shot in Hawaii and opens on December 10 in the US.