‘Wonderstruck’ Trailer: Todd Haynes’ Awards Contender Gets a Boost From Bowie

The new trailer for Wonderstruck is really lovely on its own, with its parallel stories of two children — one in 1927, the other in 1977 — searching for prominent but elusive figures in their lives. But the use of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” makes the trailer for Todd Haynes’ latest film even more wonderful, particularly as it transitions from a cover sung by children into the late singer’s classic version.

It’s far from the first film to use the iconic Bowie tune, but it really works here — it certainly gave me some goosebumps, which is exactly the sort of feeling that guarantees I’ll be seeing this film ASAP. To be fair, a new Todd Haynes film is always a priority, and Wonderstruck doesn’t feel like anything the director of Carol and Velvet Goldmine has done before. That makes his latest effort, which uses both color and black and white cinematography, all the more intriguing.

Starring Oakes Fegley (last year’s live-action remake of Pete’s Dragon) and newcomer Millicent Simmonds (who is deaf in real life), Wonderstruck is based on the 2011 novel by Brian Selznick and is described as follows:

Based on Brian Selznick’s critically acclaimed novel Ben and Rose are children from two different eras who secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known, while Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his home and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out on quests to find what they are missing that unfold with mesmerizing symmetry.

Wonderstruck also stars Michelle Williams, Haynes favorite Julianne Moore, and James Urbaniak, and hits theaters on October 20.