Garrett Hedlund transforms into a former Ku Klux Klan member trying to change his life in new Burden trailer

Garrett Hedlund takes on an intense new role in the first trailer for his upcoming drama Burden, slated for release on February 28, 2020.

The new trailer, courtesy of People, shows Hedlund, 35, as the real-life former Ku Klux Klan member Mike Burden, an orphan who was actually raised by the Klan until a Baptist minister, Reverend Kennedy (Forest Whitaker) helped turn his life around.

The film debuted at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. 

The trailer begins with Hedlund sitting against a tree, while Reverend Kennedy gives a speech to his congregation.

‘The weapons that we use to fight fear, they’re not brutality, they are not wrath, they are not hate. They are and will always be love,’ Whitaker’s Kennedy says.

There are also a number of shots showcasing life within the Klan community, with white hoods being put on mannequin heads and a group of white guys in a truck throwing something at a group of black guys.

The true story this film is based on is set in South Carolina 1996, with shots of several Klansmen at a cross burning, including Tom Griffin (Tom Wilkinson), while Kennedy warns of an ‘epidemic’ in Lawrence.

There are also shots of a local theater being converted into a KKK Museum, as Griffin and Burden look on.

Another shot reveals Burden beating a black man in his car, as he tells Kennedy, ‘I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life, things I now regret.’

Kennedy tells him that, ‘if you truly want to leave Klan, then your first step must be admitting what you done,’ while we see a tattoo reading ‘Wolf’ in Old English on his back.

Kennedy is then seen meeting with his wife Janice (Crystal Fox), Clarence Brooks (Usher Raymond) and Toosie Brooks (Tia Hendricks), who says Burden, ‘needs to go back to where he belongs.’

Burden is also seen with his girlfriend Judy (Andrea Riseborough), telling her that the Klan is like his family, but she asks, ‘Look where it got you?’

The Reverend says, ‘you can’t get rid of hate, unless you replace it with something else,’ before The Reverend offers to help Burden, who has been living out of his car with Judy and their son.

When the black hotel clerk asks if the Reverend knows who that man is, he says he knows him as ‘a brother in Christ,’ but the clerk still won’t give him a room. 

When Janice asks what he’s going to do, he ultimately welcomes the former Klansman into his home, which does not go well with his wife and kids.

Against the backdrop of an a cappella version of Amazing Grace, Griffin tells Burden, ‘You’re out of order, Klansman,’ with Burden responding, ‘I ain’t no Klansman no more.’

There are a number of dramatic and quick shots including Burden tossing a football around with Brooks and their kids, Kennedy’s son Kelvin (Dexter Darden) telling his father that people don’t ‘leave the Klan, it’s in you.’   

Griffin also ominously says, ‘We ain’t never gonna stop’ while Clarence and Toosie teach Mike and Judy how to roller skate.

The trailer ends with Burden being baptized by Kennedy, who states, ‘They may set crosses burning in the middle of the night, but we will fill the night with a different kind of fire,’ with Burden saying, ‘One day I hope you all can forgive me, I hope God can forgive me.’

Burden, written and directed by Andrew Heckler, hits theaters nationwide on February 28, 2020.