Last year James Ponsoldt‘s Smashed didn’t really make much of a dent in the landscape, forgotten by most or perhaps never seen. It featured a solid performance from Mary Elizabeth Winstead and despite my aversion to films about alcoholism, it was quite good.
Ponsoldt’s new film, The Spectacular Now travels in similar territory and recently won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for its two leads — Shailene Woodley (The Descendents) and Miles Teller (Rabbit Hole) — and today the first trailer for the film has arrived.
The film is an adaptation of Tim Tharp’s novel centered on Sutter Keely (Teller), a high school senior and a budding alcoholic. One night he gets drunk and wakes up on a lawn with Aimee Finicky (Woodley) hovering over him. The film follows their relationship from that point forward.
Along with Teller and Woodley, the film stars Brie Larson, Dayo Okeniyi, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Andrew Royo, Bob Odenkirk, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kaitlyn Dever and Masam Holden and A24 has already set an August 2 release, which tells me this one will likely play Toronto.
Unfortunately I missed a screening of it here in Seattle during the Film Festival as it screened while I was away at Cannes, but I’m curious to see what Ponsoldt has in store this time around. Check out the first trailer directly below.
