Wildlife Trailer: Jake Gyllenhaal & Cary Mulligan's Marriage is Failing

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Jake Gyllenhaal and Cary Mulligan play a husband-wife duo whose marriage is (not so slowly) starting to crumble in the trailer for the 1960s-set drama, Wildlife. The film marks the directorial debut for decorated character actor Paul Dano, who also cowrote the script with his longtime collaborator and partner Zoe Kazan (her second screenplay after Ruby Sparks), based on the 1990 novel by Richard Ford.

Wildlife takes place in '60s-era small town Montana and is told from the perspective of fourteen-year old Joe Brinson, as played by Ed Oxenbould (The Visit). Shortly after Joe's father Jerry (Gyllenhaal), a golf pro, loses his job, he decides to help battle a raging forest fire near the Canadian border - leaving Joe and his mother Jeanette (Mulligan) to fend for themselves. In his father's absence, Joe is forced to grow up faster than he expected and do his best to help his mother make due in Jerry's absence... even as he gradually begins to realize that neither of his parents are particularly happy about their lives at the moment, much less their marriage to each other.

IFC Films has now released an official trailer for Wildlife (see below), ahead of its U.S. release next month. The preview itself is somewhat misleading, in the sense that it suggests Gyllenhaal has essentially the same amount of screen time as Oxenbould and Mulligan. However, according to most journalists and critics who've already seen the film, the Brokeback Mountain and Nightcrawler actor is very much a supporting player - as the story focuses more on Joe and Jeanette's relationship than Jerry.

Following its premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival near the beginning of the year, Wildlife has been screened at several other major film festivals across the globe. In fact, it only just showed at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier today and will make its way to the big festivals in New York, London, and San Diego before it hits theaters. Suffice it to say, IFC is doing its part to generate buzz for this one.

So far, Wildlife has earned pretty much universal praise on the film festival circuit for its leading performances and Dano's subtle direction, as well as elements like the handsome period cinematography by Diego Garcia (see the trailer for more on that). Between Dano's film and Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born, it seems this awards season will include at least two very different, yet in many ways equally successful directorial debuts from well-known character actors. All Oscar talk set aside, though, this seems like one that movie buffs will want to check out, based solely on its own merits.

Wildlife (2018) release date: Oct 19, 2018