‘Maps to the Stars’ Trailer: David Cronenberg Examines Our Celebrity-Obsessed Culture

Julianne Moore is nominated for two Best Actress Golden Globe awards this season: one for her performance as a woman struggling with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in ‘Still Alice,’ and the other for her performance as a fading actress in David Cronenberg’s ‘Maps to the Stars.’ Focus has just released a new trailer and poster for Cronenberg’s follow-up to ‘Cosmopolis,’ which is finally hitting theaters this February.

We haven’t seen a new trailer for ‘Maps to the Stars’ since last September, following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it debuted to mixed reviews—as most of Cronenberg’s films do. The director’s films are often acquired tastes, and even his most loyal fans have struggled to enjoy at least a few of his projects.

With ‘Maps to the Stars,’ Cronenberg tackles our celebrity-obsessed culture, which his son Brandon Cronenberg also explored in ‘Antiviral,’ a dark bit of body horror that echoed some of his father’s earlier sensibilities. Julianne Moore stars in ‘Maps to the Stars’ as an older, struggling actress who wants to reprise her mother’s famous film role in a new project. The film interconnects its character’s relationships and stories, with John Cusack playing Moore’s psychotherapist and life coach—he’s married to Olivia Williams’ character, who manages the career of their 13 year-old son, a TV star who recently left rehab for drug abuse. Mia Wasikowska plays their grown daughter, who is estranged from her parents and was recently released from a psychiatric hospital. ‘Cosmopolis’ star Robert Pattinson plays a limo driver who counts Moore among his clients and becomes friends with Wasikowska.

As you can see, there’s a whole lot going on, and the above trailer and new poster (below) are both selling us on films that seem markedly different—both from each other and from the description above. But that’s kind of fantastic, and definitely keeps us guessing about the film’s actual intentions. We’ll see for ourselves when ‘Maps to the Stars’ hits theaters and VOD on February 27.