I’m Not Here, not to be confused with I’m Not There, I’m Still Here or You Were Never Really Here, tells the tale of a man facing his past to make sense of his present. J.K. Simmons plays that man in the present day, while Sebastian Stan plays the same character as a younger man, and the I’m Not Here trailer below offers a somewhat vague look at the eras of those two actors colliding.

I’m Not Here Trailer

This is a very curious trailer. There’s barely any dialogue, which makes the story a bit difficult to extrapolate. Perhaps the official synopsis can shed more light on the matter:

Steve is haunted by his past as every object in his home, every sound he hears reminds him of a specific event in his life. Steve connects the events of his life to discover how he ended up alone and broken. As he relives each significant memory, he understands the generational issues that have held him captive like his father before him. Can he move past the pain and forgive his trespassers, and more importantly, forgive himself?

Hmm…alright, that wasn’t much clearer. What we can gleam here is that J.K. Simmons and Sebastian Stan play the same character, Steve, at different points of his life. And Steve is haunted by the past, and needs to start reckoning with that immediately. The rest of the cast features Max Greenfield, Maika Monroe, Mandy Moore, and Iain Armitage, with Michelle Schumacher – who is married to Simmons – directing.

Simmons and Stan are both actors worth paying attention to – especially Simmons. While the actor usually plays supporting roles, I like the idea of him leading a film. That said, this trailer is way too vague for my tastes. And the vagueness isn’t on account of the film not being finished – it already had a world premiere in 2017 at the Raindance Film Festival. I’m all for not giving too much away in a trailer. But come on, you have to give me something to grab onto here. J.K. Simmons and his glorious beard aren’t enough. Perhaps when the film gets closer to its release date, we’ll learn a bit more. There’s also this red carpet interview with Schumacher that sheds some more light on the story, in which she reveals that there’s a “quantum physics, quantum mechanics” touch to the story, which suggests there’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye.

Michelle Schumacher Interview

I’m Not Here opens March 8, 2019.