Keke Palmer Gets Revenge on Slave Owners — in 1973 — in Powerful First Trailer for Thriller 'Alice'

Keke Palmer plays an enslaved woman who escapes and learns that it's actually 1973 in Alice, which is inspired by a true story

Keke Palmer is discovering her inner power.

The actress stars in a new trailer for Alice, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival last month, about an enslaved woman who escapes a plantation to learn that it is actually 1973. A political activist, played by Common, helps empower Alice to understand Black liberation and unlearn the lies she's been told.

"It's the woman you used to 'own.' You watched us get tormented," Palmer's Alice says on the phone to the man who enslaved her (played by Jonny Lee Miller). "It's my turn now."

Revenge-thriller Alice is written and directed by Krystin Ver Linden, and it is inspired by a true story.

"I ✊🏾 AM ✊🏾FREEDOM ✊🏾 Ain't nothing like a black woman stepping into her POWER," Palmer wrote on Instagram, sharing the trailer. "WE ALL COME FROM ALICE'S because only the strong survived!" In a previous post, the 28-year-old actress wrote, "This film is very close to my heart & I poured my soul into my character, Alice. I hope you love her as much as I do."

Ver Linden told the Los Angeles Times that part of the inspiration behind the story came from a PEOPLE magazine article her mom sent her to read about Mae Miller, who, along with her family, were held like enslaved people in Mississippi before escaping in the 1960s. Said the filmmaker, "Her journey out and what she did with her life when she got out was truly inspiring."

Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment

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Palmer told The Hollywood Reporter last month of how this movie is different from others that tackle slavery, and why it felt right to tell today.

Keke Palmer in Alice (2022).

L: Caption . PHOTO: Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment

R: Caption Keke Palmer in Alice (2022). PHOTO: Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment

"It was just very informative, exciting, engaging. I felt, 'This is fresh.' I felt empowered," she said of reading the script for the first time. "This is the big thing for me. When we go back in time to our stuff, it's like, 'Here we go. Time to get sad. Time to get victimized.' That's not what happened here. That's what I loved about it."

"Then for it to be in the 1970s, one of the biggest times of the Black Power movement — it just got me amped up. It got me excited," added Palmer. "This is the twist we need. This is the twist of now."

Alice is in theaters March 18.