'Shirley' Trailer: Elisabeth Moss Plays A Horror Author Going Mad For Director Josephine Decker

Filmmaker Josephine Decker is arguably the heir apparent of Miranda July, in that she’s sort of today’s premiere female indie filmmaker now pushing the boundaries of narrative and trying to make her dramas as experimental as possible. So far, it’s worked like gangbusters, especially in her expressive, live-wire drama, “Madeline’s Madeline” (which not so coincidentally starred July).

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Decker’s latest film, “Shirley, which debuted at Sundance earlier this year (read our review) is about a real-life literary figure—famed horror and mystery writer Shirley Jackson (played by Elisabeth Moss). But lest you think it’s a biopic, it’s deliberately not.

READ MORE: Josephine Decker Discusses ‘Shirley’ & Its Real-Life Literary Inspiration [Sundance Interview]

“If anything, I would say we took Shirley Jackson and put her into one of her own fictional stories,” Decker told us in an interview from Sundance in January. “We were always clear this was a fictional character inspired by a real human. We took the novel as our starting point and then in writing the script, found new things and were also deeply inspired by the characters drawn in [Susan Scarf Merrell’s] novel [of the same name].”

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Adapted by Sarah Gubbins, “Shirley” stars Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young, and Logan Lerman. The movie centers on a famous horror writer who finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple (Moss and Stuhlbarg obviously being the older pair, Young and Lerman, the younger couple).

Our review from Sundance described the picture as “spellbinding, and another fine vehicle for the strange and beautiful way this singular artist sees the world.” We’re sold. Here’s the official synopsis:

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Fred and Rose move to a small Vermont college town in pursuit of a job for Fred as an assistant professor of literature. The young couple receives an offer for free room and board from professor Stanley Hyman, as long as Rose agrees to spend time cleaning up the home and looking after his wife, acclaimed horror author Shirley Jackson. At first Fred and Rose detest the rocky household of the eccentric couple, but they eventually establish deep bonds with their counterparts, which will test the limits of their young love.

“Shirley” will be available everywhere, presumably all VOD channels on June 5. Watch the trailer below and let us know what you think.