If you’ve seen 2016’s “Swiss Army Man,” you have a pretty idea why we’d say that the trailer for the new A24 release “The Death of Dick Long” is strange. Directed by Daniel Scheinert, one half of the directing duo known as The Daniels (the guys behind “Swiss Army Man”), ‘Dick Long’ seems to follow in the footsteps of the earlier film by taking what should be a fairly tragic story and injecting a heaping helping of offbeat humor and awkwardness.
As the title suggests, “The Death of Dick Long” follows the story of, well, the death of Dick Long. After a night of partying with his two best friends, Dick is critically injured and dropped off at the hospital. Unfortunately, the guy passes away and since there’s no way of knowing how he was injured, the police open a homicide investigation. And as you might guess, considering the circumstances that got them there, the two friends responsible for dropping Dick off at the hospital aren’t the smartest guys ever and scramble to cover up their “crime.”
The film stars Michael Abbott Jr., Virginia Newcomb, Andre Hyland, Sarah Baker, Jess Weixler, Sunita Mani, Roy Wood Jr., Poppi Cunningham, and Janelle Cochrane. As mentioned, ‘Dick Long’ is directed by Scheinert. The script was written by first-time screenwriter Billy Chew.
“The Death of Dick Long” will arrive in theaters on September 24.
Here’s the synopsis:
Holy Crap. Dick is dead. Died last night after band practice, and his bandmates, Zeke & Earl (Michael Abbott, Jr. & Andre Hyland), don’t want anybody finding out how. That’s too bad though, ‘cause news travels fast in small town Alabama, and these guys suck at covering their tracks. The authorities haven’t ID’d the body just yet, but Zeke’s wife (Virginia Newcomb) and his daughter are suspicious already.