In the sixth season premiere of HBO’s Veep, which follows former Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), her daughter is busy making a behind-the-scenes documentary that follows her mother’s attempt to secure a position as President of the United States. Selina doesn’t mind; she doesn’t believe her daughter will ever actually finish the thing. The new trailer for Weiner, the documentary that follows Anthony Weiner as he attempts to rehabilitate his image and run for mayor of New York City, is proof that truth is stranger than fiction, and that the doomsday documentary being made by Selina’s daughter has already been made, and this is it.
Something that should be said about Weiner is that, as much as he got in his own way (by sending inappropriate text messages while acting as/being married to a public official), he was also self-aware, as is evidenced by a moment in this trailer in which he expounds upon the general dumbness of his making a movie about his own scandal. Not very smart, Weiner!
Really, the trailer is very tense — thanks probably to the wise, effective use of music, and, if nothing else, it promises a warts-and-all look into the life of what was once a very prominent politician. It’ll be interesting to see how footage of Huma Abedin is used, too, seeing as she must be at least a little (rightfully) concerned with protecting her image.
Watch the trailer below. The film is out May 20.