Reed Morano is a name that you see thrown around for a lot of big-budget films. The director, who won an Emmy for her work on Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” is branching out into feature films, after an impressive cinematography career, and her first film is getting a lot of buzz, as it hits theaters in the fall.
In the first trailer for “I Think We’re Alone Now,” we don’t get much in the way of plot, but what we do get is a glimpse at the incredible imagery and style that Morano is bringing to the post-apocalyptic genre. The film follows a man, played by Peter Dinklage, who enjoys his solitude in a small town that has been wiped out by the apocalypse. He’s the only person left, and he enjoys it that way. That is until he discovers Grace, played by Elle Fanning.
READ MORE: ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ Is Beautiful And Evocative Until It’s Not [Sundance Review]
“I like the post-apocalyptic genre, but it’s been done a million times, and I was looking for something a little bit weird, or just a little bit different tonally,” Morano tells EW. “I saw this opportunity to tell a post-apocalyptic story that breaks a lot of the conventions of storytelling in that genre.”
The teaser, alone, breaks convention by not even acknowledging the post-apocalypse but letting the images speak for themselves. Dinklage apprehensively walking an empty road with white X’s painted everywhere. The spooky narration explaining that Dinklage felt more alone when the town was filled with 1,600 people. And the sound of the car alarm getting louder as he approaches. If a teaser is meant to get people excited to see more from a film, “I Think We’re Alone Now’s” teaser does that in spades.
“I really appreciate any time a story can be told with visuals or sound rather than straight dialogue,” Morano teases. “This is the perfect film to do that.”
“I Think We’re Alone Now” hits NYC and LA on September 14, before opening wide on September 21.