Hollywood’s self-reflexive nature is investigated this summer in two festival-circuit films: Oliver Assayas’ Clouds Of Sils Maria, and David Cronenberg’s latest opus, Maps To The Stars. After striking out at Cannes to mixed-to-positive reviews, the movie has recently secured a US distributor but no firm release date. Focus World, who snared the rights, are rumoured to be dropping it on VOD sometime next year. Now, with a new trailer to pore over, does this mean we’re any closer to finally getting a confirmed date?
Cronenberg has never played it safe with his ventures. After his stint in the 70s and 80s rejuvenating the occult body horror genre, he’s left the gore behind for a different type of terror. Maps To The Stars is not a typically glossy Hollywood pic. The sun might be shining, but beneath the toothy smiles and perfect hair, the desire to be a fawned-over celebrity lingers.
Julianne Moore stars as a fading actress who signs on to star in a remake of a movie made famous by her late mother’s performance. Enlisting an assistant, Mia Wasikowska, her happy facade starts to slip. Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams and John Cusack all co-star. It’s got to make you wonder; with such a knockout cast, surely it would snag a decent box office haul? Especially considering the last time leading lady Moore headlined such an intriguing flick.
The new trailer opens with Moore’s ageing actress engaged in a heated phone call. That scene alone goes someway to explaining how she bagged the Best Actress award earlier this year at Cannes. Moore is a multi-faceted powerhouse of confusion and self-doubt. Without giving too much away, the rest of the preview descends into a compelling snarl of madness.
Set to hit theatres on October 31st in Canada, we’ll keep you posted when Maps To The Stars lands a US release.
With this tale of a secret-filled Hollywood family on the verge of implosion, award-winning director David Cronenberg forges both a wicked social satire and a very human ghost story from our celebrity-obsessed culture. From a screenplay by acclaimed author, screenwriter and West Coast chronicler Bruce Wagner, and featuring an ensemble cast that includes Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams and Sarah Gadon, MAPS TO THE STARS tours the seductive allure and the tender, darkly comic underbelly of contemporary success.
