It was the film that divided critics like none other during Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and with today’s first trailer for Swiss Army Man, it’s not too difficult to imagine why.
Acting as the directorial debut of Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan – best known for their work in the music industry as the DANIELS – A24’s intimate and frankly bonkers drama orbits around Paul Dano’s hapless adventurer who, facing certain death on a far-flung island, is given a new reason to live after stumbling upon a dead Daniel Radcliffe.
Washed up on the beach, Radcliffe’s corpse fast becomes a close companion for Dano’s lead – after dealing with some posthumous flatulence, of course – and crippling starvation even leads to some really rather bizarre and whimsical hallucinations where the recently deceased becomes an animated puppet.
Embracing the ridiculousness of his own situation, Swiss Army Man is all about Paul Dano partnering with Radcliffe to find the woman of his dreams – 10 Cloverfield Lane star Mary Elizabeth Winstead – and if nothing else, you can’t say that Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan’s feature film debut will go down as another run of the mill drama.
Swiss Army Man will make its bow via a limited theatrical run on June 17.
Hank (Dano) is stranded on a deserted island, having given up all hope of ever making it home again. But one day everything changes when a corpse named Manny (Radcliffe) washes up on shore; the two become fast friends, and ultimately go on an epic adventure that will bring Hank back to the woman of his dreams.