HBO have released a teaser trailer for the upcoming Clear History, a film starring and co-written by Larry David and directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad). In it, the usually balding and clean-shaven creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm is given a full head of flowing locks and a giant beard, driving an open-topped sports car and singing along to some classic rock.
Entertainment Weekly revealed that the film will also star Jon Hamm, Bill Hader, Kate Hudson, Eva Mendes, Danny McBride, and Michael Keaton, and will stick to Larry David’s signature style of improvised dialogue over a structured story. Most excitingly of all, J.B. Smoove will also be joining the cast – his chemistry on Curb Your Enthusiasm was electric, and he can always be depended-upon to make a good scene great.
But what’s the story? Well, Larry David plays Nathan, a hipster marketing executive who sells his shares in a company after a fight with his boss (Jon Hamm), only to miss out on billions when the company’s new product – an electric car – is a big success. If this sounds great to you then you’re in luck – the teaser trailer can be found below.
It’s vaguely based on a the misadventures of a minor character in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, and seems like prime Larry David territory – pettiness, jealousy, passive-agression, blind fury, and schadenfreude all being staples of his work.
Larry David doesn’t have a great track record with feature films – his only other effort being Sour Grapes, a critical and commercial failure starring Steven Weber and Craig Bierko. Its lack of success was even more surprising given its release at the height of Seinfeld mania – a show that Larry David also co-created. The plot to that film also involves one character suddenly becoming rich, at the expense of another character’s effort, so this is clearly a subject close to the writer’s heart. Has there ever been an example of a Larry David partnership resulting in one person gaining much more than the other? One to mull over, perhaps.
Clear History will be released by HBO in August 2013.
