Steve Carell has made a notable transition to serious acting in recent years, with movies like Foxcatcher and The Way, Way Back offering him ample room to explore his more dramatic chops. Now it looks like he has a project on the horizon that will allow him to blend his knack for comedy and drama, as a new trailer for Robert Zemeckis' upcoming film, Welcome to Marwen, shows the Crazy, Stupid, Love star diving into his imagination to battle Nazis with a squad of dolls. Check out the new preview, below!
Based on a true story, Welcome to Marwen tells the story of a man named Mark (Steve Carell) who suffers a violent attack at the hands of a group of Nazis. Struggling to return to normalcy and cope with the fallout of the assault, he constructs a miniature World War II-themed town in his yard and populates it with dolls inspired by the people in his life. In addition to Carell, Welcome to Marwen has assembled an incredible cast of performers that includes Knocked Up's Leslie Mann, Inglourious Basterds' Diane Kruger, The Walking Dead's Merritt Wever, and Moonlight's Janelle Monáe.
One of the most notable elements of Welcome to Marwen that makes it look so unique is the blending of reality with the CGI elements used to create the doll world. Those sequences take place in a heightened, Ready Player One-esque reality in which the film's actors get to cut loose and engage in some bizarre action set pieces that almost feel reminiscent of a Call of Duty video game. Director Robert Zemeckis has been known for his ability to break new ground on visual effects and cinematography over the years (just look at his work on films like Back to the Future and even The Walk), so it will be fascinating to see what else he does with Welcome to Marwen's story.
That said, despite the otherworldly nature of Welcome to Marwen's story, the real-life portions of the movie obviously promise something severe and emotional at the core of this story. The suffering experienced by Steve Carell's Mark Hogancamp in the film is treated very seriously, and the eventual confrontation between the hero and his Nazi attackers is not taken lightly by this trailer. With Welcome to Marwen debuting at the beginning of awards season, this could be a performance to watch out for when all is said and done.
Welcome to Marwen will debut in theaters later this year on November 21. We will bring you more updates related to the live-action/CGI hybrid film as they become available to us, and for now, you can head over to our movie premiere guide to stay in-the-know on all of the movie films that will debut this year!
