The official trailer for Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals was released today, his first feature film since A Single Man seven years ago. Judging from the brief but loaded two-minute sneak peak, the movie will be quite a doozy. Based on Austin Wright’s 1993 novel Tony and Susan, the Ford-penned and -directed thriller focuses on art gallery owner Susan Morrow, played by Amy Adams, who receives a manuscript copy of her ex-husband’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) book whose title, Nocturnal Animals, is a reference to his nickname for her. The book is “violent and it’s sad,” Morrow says, adding, “And he dedicated it to me.” These details she interprets as ominous signs, predictions confirmed by the trailer’s baleful latter half: mustachioed sheriffs; a pleading Laura Linney, draped in pearls; a grungy Aaron Taylor-Johnson appearing seven kinds of crazy; water droplets emotionally trailing down glass in at least two different scenes; handguns, weaponized fireplace pokers, and attempted vehicular manslaughter just to name a few.
The film is already receiving accolades, winning the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Venice International Film Festival. Also featuring Michael Shannon and Isla Fisher, the drama is a highly anticipated cinematic return for fashion designer Ford, whose directorial debut, 2009’s A Single Man, was critically acclaimed.
The film is set for release November 18, 2016, by Focus Features.
