Brian Wilson Faces Manipulation in New ‘Love & Mercy’ Trailer
Running twice as long as the teaser, the official trailer for the Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy further highlights the alleged manipulation that the Beach Boys singer-songwriter suffered at the hands of psychiatrist Dr. Eugene Landy, played by Paul Giamatti.
At various points, the Landy character threatens to cut off the budding relationship Wilson (played in his later years by John Cusack) shares with eventual wife Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks). He also forbids Wilson from eating a sandwich, telling him, “You are not hungry, you think you’re hungry!” Ledbetter confronts Wilson in another scene to tell him that Landy is overmedicating him.
The clip also shows Wilson in his younger years, as portrayed by Paul Dano, with the singer-songwriter feeling competition with the Beatles and stretching the limits of his creativity, asking someone in a recording studio, “Can we get a horse in here?”
Filmmaker Bill Pohlad directed the movie, much to the delight of the real-life Wilson. “I still can’t believe how cool it is that my life will be portrayed on the big screen, and to have Bill Pohlad as the captain of the Sloop John B is amazing,” he said in 2013. “It just makes me feel so humble. I can’t wait to see it with a full tub of buttered popcorn.”
Dano said he was thrilled to be playing the Beach Boys singer. “Personally, I hope they feel that we captured even the tiniest bit of the energy that he has,” he told Rolling Stone last year. “I mean, fans know his story. They undoubtedly have a good idea of what he’s gone through in his life, how he suffered and was exploited, how he finally found peace in his life…. I hope the movie leaves them with a sense of compassion.”