Netflix‘s new series “Maniac” is nearly here, and it looks as if it may scramble the brain. Director Cary Fukunaga returns to television with this science fiction, dark comedy series. Previously, the filmmaker directed Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the first season of the HBO anthology series, “True Detective.” “Maniac” isn’t Fukunaga’s first time with Netflix either. His first project with the streaming giant was 2015’s “Beasts of No Nation,” with Idris Elba. “Maniac,” however, seems to have a mix of darkness and comedy in this first footage.
Emma Stone and Jonah Hill reunite for the first time since “Superbad” in 2007. Since their careers started, they’ve both become Oscar nominees (with Stone winning Best Actress in 2017). The series will likely highlight both of their dramatic and comedic chops and will also star HBO‘s “The Leftovers” alum, Justin Theroux in a recurring role via the futuristic pharmaceutical company, and Sally Field.
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Adapted from a 2014 Norwegian half-hour comedy series of the same name, “Maniac” was created by Hakon Bast Mossige and actor Espen Lervaag, who also starred in the lead role. Initially, the Norwegian series followed two separate narratives, one about a character in a mental institution, the other set in a patient’s fantasy. All of the details concerning the show have been held tightly under wraps, but Netflix has finally unveiled some of the goods including a lengthy synopsis.
Here’s the synopsis via Netflix:
Set in a world somewhat like our world, in a time quite similar to our time, Maniac tells the stories of Annie Landsberg (Emma Stone) and Owen Milgrim (Jonah Hill), two strangers drawn to the late stages of a mysterious pharmaceutical trial, each for their own reasons. Annie’s disaffected and aimless, fixated on broken relationships with her mother and her sister; Owen, the fifth son of wealthy New York industrialists, has struggled his whole life with a disputed diagnosis of schizophrenia. Neither of their lives have turned out quite right, and the promise of a new, radical kind of pharmaceutical treatment—a sequence of pills its inventor, Dr. James K. Mantleray (Justin Theroux), claims can repair anything about the mind, be it mental illness or heartbreak—draws them and ten other strangers to the facilities of Neberdine Pharmaceutical and Biotech for a three-day drug trial that will, they’re assured, with no complications or side-effects whatsoever, solve all of their problems, permanently. Things do not go as planned.
“Maniac” premieres on Netflix September 21. Watch the first teaser trailer below.