American Pastoral's Poster & Trailer Are A Beauty
Monday, June 27, 2016 at 12:33PM Manuel here. American Pastoral, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Philip Roth has a trio of leading performers that I find myself often rooting for—despite early buzzy career moves, each have become underrated and/or undervalued players: Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, and Ewan McGregor who's doing double duty here. American Pastoral marks his directorial debut.
I initially wanted to share the beautiful new poster for it which is haunting and simple; a perfect example of a one sheet that establishes quickly the mood of the piece. Roth's title and the film's tagline "A radically ordinary story" surely help. This is the American Dream engulfed in flames which means the nuclear family at the core of McGregor's film (Connelly playing his wife, Fanning his daughter) will be anything but ordinary.
And then I found the trailer had dropped and 30 seconds in I was already sold (which would've made a YNMS an exercise in nitpicking because even as it uses the emo song montage trailer template I immediately wanted to catch the film). I also didn't want to spoil it since, for those us of unfamiliar with the Roth novel, that initial sequence in the trailer packs a heavier punch. The trailer looks gorgeous—Norman Rockwell filtered through 1960s hazy and backlit paranoia—no doubt because DP Martin Ruhe (of Control and The American fame) is behind the camera. Also, don't be dissuaded by the creepy "VFX de-aged McGregor" greeting you below.
Though perhaps I'm burying the lede: the main reason to watch this trailer other than to hear yet another haunting version of "Mad World," is to see Fanning in full 60s radical rebel girl mode:
But what does everyone else think? Will Dakota remind us what made her such a powerful screen presence?
Reader Comments (11)
When is this trend of titles with "AMERICAN ________" going to end? It's so lazy!
American Hustle
American Gangster
American Beauty
American Horror Story
American Pie
American Psycho
etc...
make it stop!
Mad World (gloomy version no matter who sings it) outside of Donnie Darko is an automatic no for me.
@DAVID - feel free to send a strongly-worded letter to Philip Roth circa 1997.
Ewan McGregor (FARGO SEASON THREE) is a favorite of mine (and everyone's?), so I'm very excited to see him step behind the camera. He's worked with all kinds of directors and offered a variety of thoughts on many of them. Will this all add up to a great talent? I hope so. And, to be honest, it's already looking like it. Big yes here.
Matthew- LOL, I spoke too soon, I didn't realize this was based on a novel from that time-period, my bad.
But I still think its a lazy trend that's happening way too much
Not gonna watch the trailer but that image says the opposite of "de-age" to me...
I'm obsessed with this trailer.
I watched The Runaways last weekend and fell in love with Dakota - she makes my 2010 Top 10 in Best Actress, don't know why that film is so underrated....
It'll probably be good and this is at the very least in my top 10 trailers of 2016 films good. Low (probably #10-7), but on there. Right now?
1. The Founder
2. Deadpool, Red Band
3. Deadpool, Green Band
4. Suicide Squad, Bohemian Rhapsody
5. The Purge(nisher): Election Year
6. Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk
7. American Pastoral
8. Deepwater Horizon
9. Yoga Hosers (As juvenile as it is, it's still funnier than any of the Ghostbusters trailers)
10. The Infiltrator, Trailer #1
(With apologies to Rogue One, but I just CAN'T get behind Felicity Jones' line deliveries enough to put it on the list and the trailers to The Light Between Oceans, Snowden and The Girl on the Train all feel a little too...weightless...on analysis, if that makes sense.)
(Major releases still waiting on trailers? Rules Don't Apply (Beatty's Hughes movie), Manchester by the Sea, La La Land and, if it's even coming out in 2016, Silence.)
Great trailer
Yes: The Women. You are so right about them. Connelly is such a strong actress. She is ripe for a major comeback with the right role. Fanning also has tons of potential.
Maybe So: Actors turned directors make me nervous. Ewan is also always good but rarely great. So we'll see.
No: That godawful song. I'm sick of it I tell you!