Nathan Fielder, Emma Stone, And Benny Safdie Get Weird In The Curse Trailer
Just when we were finally fully recovered from the reality-bending games of "The Rehearsal," another Nathan Fielder project is here to mess with our minds. This time it's "The Curse," a new Showtime and Paramount+ series co-created and directed by Fielder and "Uncut Gems" filmmaker Benny Safdie. Emma Stone co-stars, and based on the trailer that just dropped, "The Curse" is poised to be a wild ride.
The series is tough to get a handle on based on its trippy first trailer, in part because it employs the documentary-like cinematic style of past meta projects from Fielder, yet seems poised to tell a fictional story. Still, even when Fielder goes the fiction route, there seem to be dizzying layers to the unreality, as evidenced by an early shot in which Stone's character, one half of a home-flipping reality TV duo, breaks character herself during a VO recording session. Fielder plays her other half, who may or may not accidentally bring a curse upon the production of their show "Flipanthropy" when he takes back a $100 bill he gave a local girl on camera.
Horror, comedy, or a secret third thing?
Safdie appears in the project too as producer Dougie, who seemingly guides Fielder's Asher towards the fateful money-snatching encounter and is later shown in the trailer dismissing the moral qualms of Stone's Whitney. The trailer presents the show as bordering on horror, but it's clear there's comedy here too. The show's title alone, "Flipanthropy," is ridiculous, as are the boxy, reflective metallic houses Whitney builds in the middle of neighborhoods predominantly made up of people of color. The show seems interested in exploring gentrification and white savior complexes, as we see Whitney looking awkward while visiting an Indigenous art exhibit and calling Española, New Mexico her home, and hear Dougie assert that the project "is helping the community" and is "immune to criticism."
An official plot synopsis for the show also reveals that Asher and Whitney are trying to have a baby, an endeavor that surely won't be made easier by a growing sense of paranoia that seems to set in once the couple think they're cursed. It's frankly unclear whether "The Curse" will be effectively scary, funny, or both, but it's obvious that it'll do what Fielder does best — alienate viewers in the most creative way possible. All three stars are on board as executive producers, as are Dave McCary and Ali Herting. The first episodes of the A24 co-production are set to debut tonight at the New York Film Festival before becoming available on Paramount + with Showtime on November 10, 2024.