The highly anticipated trailer for UK film Supernova, which stars Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as long-term partners, has been released after debuting at the San Sebastian International Film Academy.
Written and directed by Harry Macqueen, Supernova revolves around the story of Tusker, played by Tucci, and Sam, played by Firth, who take a long road trip in their RV in the wake of Tusker being diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Visiting family, friends, and sights significant to their long relationship, the pair are forced to confront and navigate their love for one another in the context of the unrelenting illness.
Early reviews for Tucci and Firth, neither of whom have publicly identified as being members of the LGBTIQ+ community, are raving of "easy chemistry" built over the actors' two-decade friendship. calledthe project a "tasteful tearjerker".
While , Macqueen revealed that it wasn't immediately obvious which actor would play which role.
"It was interesting because it took us a while to work out who would play which character," Macqueen told . "At a table read, they each read both parts for me, which is amazing and doesn’t happen very often."
"They both really fell in love with both characters," he continued. "And it took them and me quite a few weeks to sort of figure out what the best configuration was going to be. We absolutely made the right decision. But I also think they both had a bit of sadness to be not playing the other character."
Macqueen also opened up about his inspiration for the film, saying it came from personal experience.
"I was working with someone who, although I didn’t know at the time, had early onset dementia. She later got very, very ill with it and died about six months later. Around the same time a friend of mine had to put her father in a home just after his 60th birthday," he said.
"That made me just want to learn a lot more about dementia broadly, just as a human being rather than a filmmaker. I went on a kind of long and intense period of research and learning. I was taken under the wing of the Dementia Research Centre at UCL (University College London).
"I studied dementia in all its complexities over about two or three years, as well crucially being able to spend a considerable amount of time with people who were living with early onset dementia. I developed some incredible relationships through that, and it became one of the most kind of important and profound experiences I’ve ever had."
You can watch the trailer below:
