Michael Shannon is playing a man trying to pull off a fake identity.
In the first trailer for A Little White Lie, shared exclusively with PEOPLE, Shannon stars as Shriver, a handyman with nothing to lose who is mistaken for a famous reclusive author, with whom he shares the same name. The real writer vanished and hasn't been seen in two decades, so Shannon's character decides to go with it — despite having never read a book in his life.
Kate Hudson, meanwhile, plays an English professor named Simone who is desperate to revive a college literary festival by inviting "Shriver" to the event.
Some are skeptical of Shriver from get-go as he navigates adoring fans and tries to keep up the ruse, even when another man, played by Zach Braff, shows up and claims to be the real Shriver.
"Can you honestly tell me you haven't been lying to me?" Hudson's character asks Shannon's Shriver amid a bubbling romance. "That's a complicated question," he responds.
The movie — an adaptation of Chris Belden's 2013 novel Shriver — also stars Don Johnson, Kate Linder, Wendie Malick, Aja Naomi King and Da'Vine Joy Randolph and is written and directed by Michael Maren.
Hudson previously told PEOPLE she was drawn to the project because of the cast involved.
"I'd been a fan of Michael Shannon's work for some time," Hudson said at the time. "I was very excited to have the opportunity to work with him. Don Johnson is a legend and an old family friend, so I was very excited to be working with him. And having worked with Zach Braff in the past, I just knew I was going to be so much fun! I'm an avid reader, and at the core of this quirky little film about writers is the story of the simple, human connections that we all seek."
"The COVID pandemic shut down production just one week before we wrapped, so waiting well over a year to reconnect with everyone and finally finish the film made this an experience that I will always remember," she added.
A Little White Lie is in theaters, on digital and on demand March 3.
