After playing social outcasts in “Kick-Ass,” “Let Me In” and “Carrie,” Chloe Grace Moretz is finally playing a normal teen in “If I Stay.” At least, the new trailer for the film starts out that way.
Moretz plays a promising young cellist who seems to have it all — a shot at Julliard, a nice family (“World War Z's” Mireille Enos plays her mom), and a handsome rocker bf played by Jamie Blackley (“Snow White and the Huntsman”). Things take a tragic turn when a car crash sends her into a coma, and triggers an out-of-body experience where she experiences the world from the outside looking in.
Powered by Moretz' perpetually sad-looking face — and the inclusion of “Say Something” by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera — the trailer offers the sort of romantic melancholia found in Nicholas Sparks movies, but with a subtly-played supernatural edge.
The film marks “Nashville” producer R.J. Cutler's directorial debut, and is based on the young adult novel by Gayle Forman.
“If I Stay” opens August 22.