Maniac, Netflix’s latest ambitious star-studded project, is a mindhunter of a different kind. Starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, the new series just got its first dazzling trailer ahead of its release next month.
Maniac stars the former Superbad co-stars as Owen and Annie, two strangers who meet during a mysterious pharmaceutical trial. According to the official Netflix synopsis, Owen comes from a family of New York industrialists and might be suffering from schizophrenia. Annie joins the trial after she becomes estranged from her mother and sister.
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“Neither of their lives have turned out quite right, and the promise of a new, radical kind of pharmaceutical treatment — a sequence of pills its inventor, Dr. James K. Mantleray, claims can repair anything about the mind, be it mental illness or heartbreak — draws them and ten other strangers to the facilities of Neberdine Pharmaceutical and Biotech for a three-day drug trial that will, they’re assured, with no complications or side-effects whatsoever, solve all of their problems, permanently,” the synopsis reads, reports TVLine. “Things do not go as planned.”
The trailer shows Owen and Annie losing their minds when they are taken to different worlds, where they always seem to run into each other.
Justin Theroux co-stars as Dr. Mantleray, and two-time Oscar-winner Sally Field plays Dr. Greta Mantleray. Sonoyoa Mizuno, who appeared in Ex Machina and La La Land, plays Dr. Fujita. Billy Magnussen, Jemima Kurke and Julia Garner also star.
Aside from the top-shelf talent assembled for the show, the behind-the-scenes personnel also make it highly anticipated. All 10 episodes were directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, who helmed Beasts of No Nation for Netflix and the first season of HBO’s True Detective. It was written by Patrick Somerville (The Leftovers, The Bridge) and is based on a Norwegian series created by Hakon Bast Mossige and Espen PA Lervaag.
The series follows Stone’s Oscar-winning performance in La La Land and her role as Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes. Her next film is Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favorite, which hits theaters on Nov. 23 and is expected to garner her Oscar buzz. Maniac is Stone’s first appearance on a TV series since 2012, when she stopped by iCarly and 30 Rock.
As for Hill, he is an Oscar-nominee thanks to his performances in Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street. He also rarely appears in TV shows. His most recent small-screen credit is a voice role in HBO’s Animals. last year.
Maniacs will be available on Netflix on Sept. 21.
Photo credit: Netflix
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