Following the bonkers teaser from a couple of weeks ago, here's a full trailer for David Cronenberg's **Cosmopolis, heralding its premier at Cannes next month. Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, Mathieu Amalric, Samantha Morton and Jay Baruchel head up the cast.
Two catchphrases immediately grab our attention, in the repeated "I want a haircut", and the less everyday "A spectre is haunting the world!" We think that's a nice summing up of the micro and macro elements at work here.
Other choice nuggets are that, "The situation is unstable," and the suggestion that Pattinson "needs to be inflamed." Cor! There's also a distinct echo of one Mr Patrick Bateman in the dyptych of, "The logical extension of business is murder," and "The urge to destroy is a creative urge."
Cronenberg's version of DeLillo's modern-day Ulysses sees Pattinson as Eric Packer, a just-married billionaire in the process of cheating on his wife and losing his fortune. His odyssey takes place over the course of 24 hours in which he's trying to get across a choked New York (clogged by a presidential visit and a rapper's funeral) for the aforementioned hair appointment. His progress is also hindered by the realisation that at least two people may be trying to kill him.
"No more money; no more sex; no more power; no more future," blasts the tag-line (we mis-typed the third bit as "no more poser" just then, but that would totally work too). While it's not quite as gonzo as the short version, the new trailer still provides more questions than answers, which is totally as it should be.
"Do you ever get the feeling that you don't know what's going on?" asks Baruchel. Er, yes. Cannes attendees get the chance to find out on May 23. The rest of us have to wait until an as-yet-unspecified point later in the year.