by Alex Billington
May 1, 2026
Source: YouTube
“That’s where the ‘art’ of it comes in…” “The art of – what?” “Becoming someone else…” 🎨 Picturehouse revealed another new UK trailer for The Christophers, the latest Steven Soderbergh movie to watch in theaters (after Presence & Black Bag last year). It’s already out in the US now, and opens in UK cinemas this May. This first premiered at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival last year. The children of a once famous artist hire a forger to complete some unfinished, long ago abandoned canvases from his “Christophers” collection so they’ll have an inheritance when he passes. Ian McKellen stars as Julian Sklar – who was once a star of London’s 1960s and 70’s pop art explosion, but he hasn’t painted in decades and has been broke for years. His two estranged children (James Corden & Jessica Gunning), desperate for an inheritance, hire Lori, an art restorer and former forger to help them sell some unfinished pieces. Michaela Coel co-stars as the forger Lori Butler. I recently watched this and it’s very good. A thoughtful film about artists and originality and expression and finding yourself. It’s definitely worth a watch if you’re intrigued by this cast or the story.
Here’s the final UK trailer (+ posters) for Steven Soderbergh’s film The Christophers, from YouTube:
You can rewatch the official US trailer for Soderbergh’s The Christophers film right here for even more.
Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) was once a star of London’s 1960’s & 70’s pop art explosion, but he hasn’t painted in decades and has been broke for years. His two estranged children (James Corden, Jessica Gunning), desperate for an inheritance, hire Lori, an art restorer and former forger (Michaela Coel), to pose as a prospective assistant in order to access 8 unfinished canvases Julian has buried deep in storage. Her plan is to complete them, then return them to storage, where they are to be “discovered” upon Julian’s death. The Christophers is directed by American producer / writer / filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, director of many films including Sex Lies & Videotape, Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven, Che: Part 1 & 2, Contagion, Side Effects, Haywire, Logan Lucky, Unsane, High Flying Bird, The Laundromat, Let Them All Talk, No Sudden Move, Kimi, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, Black Bag, Presence, plus TV series including “The Knick”, “Mosaic”, “Full Circle“, “Command Z“. The screenplay is written by Ed Solomon (Bill & Ted, Men in Black, Charlie’s Angels, Imagine That, Now You See Me, No Sudden Move). It’s produced by Iain Canning & Jim Parks. It premiered at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival last year. Neon debuts Soderbergh’s The Christophers film in select US theaters first on April 10th, 2026, then in theaters nationwide on April 17th coming up.
