Laura Dern spent all of 2017 making magic happen. The actress became the hilariously angry and over-worked helicopter mom, Renata, in Big Little Lies (the perfect semi-foil to the equally helicopter-y Reese Witherspoon as Madeline), the inspirational and take-no-shit Vice Admiral Holdo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and for her final trick: she also cleverly refurbished her role in Twin Peaks: The Return for its reboot. That's a full roster of empowering, complex, and intriguing female characters.
And it looks like she saved the best for last in The Tale, based on the first clip that HBO dropped today.
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The Tale follows Jennifer, played by Dern, who, in her adult life, grapples with the past trauma of sexual abuse she experienced as a young girl. The film is based on the life of Jennifer Fox, who also wrote and directed the break-out Sundance hit. The movie, which was immediately helmed as the quintessential #MeToo film out of festival season, was bought by HBO (the network's first time bidding on a feature film, not a documentary).
Although it only clocks in at 15 seconds (sometimes shows take "teaser" too seriously!), the teaser below establishes the tone for the emotional and already praised film. Soundtracked by dramatic and stunning orchestral music as it jumps from past to present, the teaser shows a distressed Dern as adult Jennifer, a journalist, and a young actress, Isabelle Nélisse, as the young Jenny. We also get a brief look at the impressive roster of actors being used to tell this new incarnation of Fox's own real-life experience.
The Tale also stars Elizabeth Debicki, Jason Ritter, Frances Conroy, John Heard, Common and Ellen Burstyn. It will be released May 26 on HBO.