Brian Wilson turned out a fair number of iconic musical moments in his career, especially during his Beach Boys days. But, like so many other talented artistic types, there was a lot more to him lurking beneath the legend. Love & Mercy aims to explore some of that.
Prolific producer-turned director Bill Pohlad called the shots for this one, working from a script by Michael A. Lerner and Oren Moverman. Love & Mercy charts two periods in Wilson’s life, his younger days, where we see him at his creative peak, and he’s played by Paul Dano, and his post-nervous breakdown difficult times, where he’s embodied by John Cusack.
The movie aims to show both sides of his nature and his attitude to the fame and fortune that came along with his talents – both the good and the bad, – plus his attempts to work through them with controversial therapist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti).
Dano here looks to be channelling Wilson’s younger self effectively, whereas with Cusack, it’s sort of hard to overcome his essential Cusack-ness, but we’ll wait for the film itself.
With Elizabeth Banks, Jake Abel, Kenny Wormald and Dee Wallace among the cast,** Love & Mercy** premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and heads to American screens on June 5. There’s no indication that it has a UK distribution deal yet.