An extended trailer of The Nowhere Inn has has arrived, offering more insight into the dynamic between Carrie Brownstein and St. Vincent (Annie Clark), as the Portlandia star directs a mockumentary on the musician.
“You’re nerdy and normal in real life, but the disparity between that and who you are on stage is jarring,” Brownstein tells Clark. “We’re in this together,” Clark adds. “Me and me.” The Nowhere Inn premiered back at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and will open in theaters and on streaming on September 17.
The film is stylized as a behind-the-scenes concert documentary directed by Brownstein and centered on Clark. The Nowhere Inn takes the depiction of a touring musician to daring extremes, with the filmmaker and the artist’s working relationship slowly unraveling over the course of the shoot.
“I wanted people to know who I really am,” Clark says in an on-camera interview, cut between scenes of Western shootouts and other surreal images. “One of the reasons why I wanted to make a documentary in the first place is I would finally be in control of the narrative…A small part of me was starting to second-guess myself. All I can say is, somewhere along the way, things went terribly wrong.”
Familiar faces populate the trailer, like Dakota Johnson, who makes a cameo appearance as herself, in what appears to be an explicit photoshoot with Clark. Brownstein portrays the filmmaker in The Nowhere Inn, but the movie was directed by Bill Benz (Portlandia, At Home With Amy Sedaris) in his feature film debut.
The new tralier comes a few months removed from the release St. Vincent’s critically acclaimed new LP, Daddy’s Home. The album is Clark’s seventh studio album and chronicles her father’s release from prison through a creative lens. Speaking to Mojo, St. Vincent said: “I was interested in going back to the music I’ve listened to more than any other―Stevie Wonder records from the early 70s, Sly And The Family Stone. I studied at the feet of those masters.” Clark will also be headlining the Pitchfork Music Festival this coming September.
