Right as everyone's buzzing about Denzel Washington's award-worthy turn in American Gangster [1], we get a trailer for The Great Debaters [2], another movie that has Washington's magical charm all over it. Add to that an inspirational historical plot fraught with race tensions, and a tight-looking cast — which includes another Oscar favorite, Forest Whitaker — and you've got the makings for a huge Hollywood success.

Washington plays Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at the all-black Wiley College in Texas in 1935. He helps form the school's first debate team which goes on to challenge Harvard's team in the national championship.

Weird sidenote: One of the young actors in this movie is actually named — and I'm not kidding — Denzel Whitaker [3]. He's not a relative of either Denzel Washington or Forest Whitaker, though he was named after Denzel. Weird, right?

To watch the heartwarming trailer for The Great Debaters which opens December 25,

Source [4]