Perhaps the most detailed thing you’ll learn about The Discovery in the cryptic, creepy, and thereby of course intriguing just-released trailer for The Discovery is that Rooney Mara is a platinum blonde here! Now that that twist’s out of the way, what else is there to glean?
Well, I’ll start with the other things the trailer lets us in on, and then will get to what’s already been reported about the film. First, the trailer reveals the presences of Robert Redford, Jason Segel, and Jesse Plemons. Other things that it makes certain: this takes place in a building. That building is old and pretty. That pretty old building has some odd anachronistic gadgets in it. It is by water. Mara and Segel smile at each other and have some kind of romance. Redford is charming because he’s Robert Redford. Plemons plays instruments. All is nice until the filming of Segel’s perspective becomes droopy and the music distorts. Then: creepy! A man is hooked up to a gadget! Riley Keough is here — she has a gun! A sign says something about preventing suicides! Someone commits suicide! Mara and Segel are doing something covert with a body bag! The Discovery is called The Discovery!
So, since that doesn’t tell you much, here’s what else is known about the movie: per the Wrap, it’s actually set following the discovery — by a doctor played by Redford — that the afterlife really exists. Because of that perception-changing fact, suicide rates have skyrocketed; Rooney Mara and Jason Segel play characters who’re in a relationship, and apparently still grappling with pre-afterlife-life (so, life).
The film is by directed by The One I Love’s Charlie McDowell, and he co-wrote it with Justin Lader, who also wrote The One I Love. (That film likewise explored a relationship through the lens of the uncanny.)
Watch the trailer: