“I read your story. It made me feel thrillingly horrible,” an unwanted house guest tells Shirley Jackson (Elisabeth Moss) in a new trailer for Josephine Decker’s “Shirley.” The horror writer is nearly finished writing her masterpiece when Stanley (Michael Stuhlbarg), her philandering husband, invites the woman and her new groom to stay with them.
There’s talk of Shirley having “bouts” and being “sick in the head.” The newlyweds’ unwelcome arrival disrupts the author’s routines and seems to exacerbate her mental health issues.
Eventually, Shirley seems to appreciate her guests’ presence — if only to treat them as pawns in her and Stanley’s dysfunctional relationship.
“What becomes of your heroine?” Stanley asks. “What happens to all lost girls,” Shirley smiles, “they go mad.”
“‘Shirley’ is about how madness and creativity can entwine so deeply that you stop being able to tell the difference between your characters, your friends, and yourself,” Decker told us.
The “Madeline’s Madeline” filmmaker spoke to her and Jackson’s shared thematic interests. “Shirley writes about consciousness; her descent into her characters’ psychologies always ends up leading the reader down new strange corridors. She walks you daringly into doubt – which is beautiful. I am obsessed with the mind and how it is a constantly fickle, ever-changing guide that fools you into believing that the reality you are living in is one you didn’t create yourself. Shirley is clearly obsessed with the same.”
Jackson’s best known works include “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Lottery.”
Moss won an Emmy and Golden Globe for her starring role in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s acclaimed dystopian novel of the same name. The series has been renewed for a fourth season. Moss also received a Globe for her role in “Top of the Lake.” The “Mad Men” alumna’s recent credits include “Her Smell,” “Us,” and “The Kitchen.”
Sarah Gubbins penned the script for “Shirley.” The film made its world premiere at Sundance this January and will be available everywhere June 5.
