The first trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Pentagon Papers drama The Post has emerged hot off the presses.

Recalling the real-life story of the Washington Post’s 1971 legal battle to publish damning classified information about the Vietnam war following a governmental cover-up that spanned four US presidencies, the film stars Oscar winners Tom Hanks as Post editor Ben Bradlee and Meryl Streep as publisher Katharine Graham. The Post also features a supporting cast of names from TV and film, including Carrie Coon, Bob Odenkirk and Sarah Paulson, while Welsh actor Matthew Rhys appears as Daniel Ellsberg, the military whistleblower who was charged with conspiracy and espionage for sharing the documents.

Perhaps surprisingly, given its subject matter, The Post is expected to feature heavily in the running for awards-season honours, and the timing of a story about journalists challenging government corruption will be considered by many to be an unsubtle nod towards current goings-on in the US political landscape.

The Post marks the beginning of a period of heightened activity for Spielberg. Three months after its release, the director will debut a big-screen adaptation of Ernest Cline’s virtual reality novel Ready Player One, starring Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke and Ben Mendelsohn. The film was originally set to be released next month, but has been pushed back to March 2018 to avoid a titanic and potentially damaging tussle with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The director is also planning to direct historical drama The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, starring Mark Rylance, and a fifth Indiana Jones film, set for release in 2020.

The Post will be released in the US on 22 December and in the UK on 19 January.