The first trailer for Love & Mercy, the biopic of Beach Boy co-founder Brian Wilson, has arrived online giving audiences an early look at actors Paul Dano and John Cusack playing the mercurial, phenomenally talented musician at various points in his life.
Directed by Oscar-nominated producer Bill Pohlad (The Tree of Life), the film chronicles Wilson’s efforts to divorce his famous band from the bubblegum surfing music that made them famous, and the creation of what is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums ever made, the 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. The film also follows Wilson’s later struggles with drug addiction and psychological issues in later years.
Paul Dano (Looper) plays the younger Wilson, while John Cusack (High Fidelity, Say Anything) plays the older version of Wilson in the film, which unfolds against a musical backdrop of some of the band’s most famous songs.
Along with Dano and Cusack, the film also stars Elizabeth Banks as Wilson’s second wife, Melinda Ledbetter, and Paul Giamatti as controversial psychotherapist Eugene Landy, who notoriously controlled much of Wilson’s life and career during the darkest periods of his life.
Love & Mercy made its international debut at the Toronto Film Festival in 2014, but it makes its U.S. debut March 15 at the South by Southwest Film Festival, to be followed by a limited theatrical release June 5.
