Leave it to Clint Eastwood to drop a bomb in the year-end awards season.

From Million Dollar Baby to American Sniper, the legendary actor/director has made a late-career habit of quietly producing a movie with little fanfare and unknown release date that ends up becoming a last-minute Oscar contender.

The industry buzz on The Mule — which stars Eastwood as an elderly drug-runner — was that it likely wouldn’t shake things up too much, but by the looks of the first trailer (which teases a bigger all-star cast than had been widely publicized) all bets are off.

Or, rather, should be on.

This one looks like it could go well beyond a “cute old man” character piece to something that packs a serious punch.

Coincidentally, this trailer debuts on the weekend that A Star Is Born opens, a movie that Eastwood had originally developed with Beyonce before he moved on and his American Sniper star Bradley Cooper took it over.

The Mule opens on December 14, 2018.