Salma Hayek Pinault has revenge on her mind in the new trailer for Without Blood, Angelina Jolie’s war drama that is finally heading to U.S. theaters more than two years after its world premiere.
Hayek plays Nina, the survivor of a violent attack on her family who later comes face to face with Tito, played by Demián Bichir. “How can God forgive you?” Nina asks him in footage highlighted by Just Jared, before declaring, “Revenge is the drug that allows us to fight.”
The trailer arrives with an unusual piece of casting history already attached to the performance. Hayek has openly said that she initially did not want to play Nina because she knew the role would require her to remain in an emotionally painful place throughout filming.
Jolie eventually convinced her after a series of long conversations. The finished film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024 and will now receive a nationwide U.S. theatrical release on September 18.
The Trailer Brings Nina and Tito Face to Face
Without Blood is adapted from Alessandro Baricco’s novel and unfolds in the aftermath of an unnamed conflict. Years after armed men attack the remote home where Nina lives with her family, she approaches Tito, a man connected to the violence, knowing their encounter is anything but accidental.
The new trailer centers heavily on their confrontation. Nina presses Tito about the past as the two circle questions of guilt, revenge, memory and whether violence can ever truly be left behind.
Hayek co-leads the film with Bichir, while Juan Minujín is also part of the principal cast. Jolie directed and produced the movie, and Fremantle credits the screenplay to Jolie and Baricco.
The story fits squarely within themes Jolie has explored repeatedly as a filmmaker. Without Blood examines what happens after the weapons fall silent and the people left behind have to live with the consequences.
Hayek Originally Told Jolie She Did Not Want to Be Nina
Hayek’s hesitation was not about working with Jolie. She told Entertainment Weekly, “I didn’t want to do the movie. I didn’t want to be Nina,” explaining that she feared returning to emotionally painful territory in order to play the character.
She described the performance as unusually demanding because Nina spends much of the story close to an emotional breaking point without fully releasing what she is carrying. After what Hayek described as many long conversations, Jolie eventually persuaded her to take the role. Hayek later said she had been unsure she was the right actress for Nina even though Jolie was convinced that she was.
As she said after making the film, Jolie’s confidence in her arrived before her own: “She knew I was the right actress. I didn’t even know I was the right actress at the moment.” Hayek called her the best “actors director” she had worked with and said she had never felt so valued by a filmmaker.
The U.S. Release Comes More Than Two Years After TIFF
Without Blood had its world premiere in TIFF’s Special Presentations program in September 2024. The festival described it as an intimate examination of how war continues to affect people long after the actual fighting has ended.
Brainstorm Media subsequently acquired the U.S. rights. Fremantle confirmed in July that the distributor will release the film nationwide on September 18, describing its central themes as war, trauma, memory and healing.
The film also marks Jolie’s first narrative feature as a director since 2017’s First They Killed My Father. Her earlier directing credits include In the Land of Blood and Honey, Unbroken and By the Sea.