The American Dream can be a nightmare. That's the thesis at the center of Daniel Brown's directorial feature debut Your Lucky Day, a hostage-thriller starring the late Angus Cloud in one of his final film roles.

EW has an exclusive first look at the trailer (above), which introduces the Euphoria breakout as Sterling, a mild-mannered drug dealer who holds a convenience store hostage after he witnesses an older, wealthy gentleman win the $156 million lottery. His face concealed with a copy of Playboy, a desperate Sterling holds the man at gunpoint to get the winning ticket. A fatal shootout occurs with a cop (Sterling Beaumon), while the witnesses — young expectant parents Ana Marlene (Jessica Garza) and Abraham (Elliot Knight), as well as convenience store owner Amir (Mousa Hussein Kraish) — must decide how far they'll go for a cut of the $156 million.

"I read somewhere that after the Gold Rush, the American Dream, which had before been simply about freedom and a fulfilling life, changed to instant incredible wealth, and we haven't really acknowledged that," Brown tells EW via email of the film's themes of wealth and inequity. The Christmastime caper, adapted from Brown's 2010 short of the same name starring Rider Strong as the desperate young man, is a meditation on the unjustness of that inequity, which also drew Garza to the script.

"I question if the American Dream has ever been an equitable ideal," she says. "I can't help but feel the American Dream is more readily attained by a few people while most others have to work, fight, and claw their way to have even a glimmer of hope at it. If it's not accessible to every American, is it really the American Dream?" (Your Lucky Day received a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement allowing for publicity during the actors' strike.)

It was the filmmaker's wife who first suggested Cloud for the role of Sterling after she binged the first season of HBO's Euphoria and fell in love with his beloved Fezco, a drug dealer with a heart of gold. To Brown's surprise, Cloud was one of the first names who expressed interest in the script after casting director Jessica Sherman had sent it out. The filmmaker concedes he was initially hesitant to cast Cloud due to Sterling and Fezco's similarities, but after watching the actor in previous interviews, he knew he had found his leading man.

"I had written the character based on people I had grown up with: guys who sold drugs and would start fights with frat boys or their stepdads, but who were also super protective and loyal to their friends," Brown says. "[Cloud's] stories and outlook were so right on for the character, I just had to go for it."

Joining Cloud on screen as Ana Marlene, Garza describes her character as "a force of nature in her third trimester" who has "the quickness, wit, and physical and emotional strength to put up the fight of her life without a beat of hesitation." Garza notes, "We rarely, if ever, see characters like this."

Garza cites a tender moment between Ana Marlene and Sterling as one of her favorite scenes. "They are two deeply different characters who begin to understand each other," she says, explaining it was "so easy to be present and connect" with Cloud. "Something about him always pulled you in. Something about his eyes said so much without him having to say a word. All he had to do was look at you and you could use what he was giving and run with it. It always felt like he was listening to every word as if it was the first time he heard it. That is such a gift to have as his scene partner."

The film ends with a somber "For Angus," paying homage to the star who died in July in his native Oakland from an accidental drug overdose. He was 25. "As with all things Angus, what I remember was his kindness and enthusiasm for others," Brown recalls of his leading man. "He was one of one."

Garza remembers her late costar as a "beam of light," both on and off screen. "He was not only an incredible actor, but he was an even better human," she says. "He was kind and humble and thoughtful and so deeply sincere. I am so grateful and honored I had the chance to share a screen with him and [get] to know him."

The film releases in theaters Nov. 10 and on digital Nov. 14.

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