‘A Cure For Wellness’ Super Bowl Spot: Dane DeHaan May Never Leave Gore Verbinski’s Horrifying Spa
DirectorGore Verbinski’s last four films are gigantic popcorn movies.Rango, thePirates of the Carribeansequels, andThe Lone Rangerare enormous in scope. WithA Cure for Wellness, the director is scaling things back a bit, sticking with mostly one location: one messed up, horrific, and beautifully designed spa.
Below, watchA Cure for Wellness SuperBowl spot.
Dane DeHaan(Kill Your Darlings) plays an ambitious and prickly executive sent to the Swiss Alps to find his boss, Pembroke, at a wellness spa. There’s something off about this particular spa, which is all around creepy in appearance and has no water supply shortage. DeHaan’s character wants to leave with his boss as soon as possible, but a car accident leaves the exec unconscious for three days, placing him in the hands of the head of the facility (played byJason Isaacs). Verbinski’s thriller, which is well-liked by the few who’ve seen it, co-starsMia Goth(Nymphomaniac) as a mysterious patient.
Here’s the latest look at theMouseHuntdirector’s new film:
Like our own Angie Han, I had the opportunity to see35 minutesfromA Cure for Wellness. The footage reminded me of Verbinski’s remake ofThe Ring, not in the story department but when it comes to tone, pace, and, at times, the aesthetic. Even when not much is occurring on screen, the director can create a sense of unease with off-kilter frames, cutting choices, and some small, oddball touches.
Verbinski’s films rarely lack atmosphere or style. Visually,A Cure for Wellnesslooks intoxicating. In some ways, it might make for a nice visual companion piece toThe Ring, although, again, they’re very different movies. The foreboding, the unease, and DeHaan’s character, who’s comically agitated by the whole situation at the start, left me very curious to see whereA Cure for Wellnessgoes.
Here’s the synopsis:
An ambitious young executive is sent to retrieve his company’s CEO from an idyllic but mysterious “wellness center” at a remote location in the Swiss Alps. He soon suspects that the spa’s miraculous treatments are not what they seem. When he begins to unravel its terrifying secrets, his sanity is tested, as he finds himself diagnosed with the same curious illness that keeps all the guests here longing for the cure. From Gore Verbinski, the visionary director of THE RING, comes the new psychological thriller, A CURE FOR WELLNESS.
