'The Discovery' Trailer: Rooney Mara, Jason Segel, and Robert Redford Learn There's an Afterlife — and That's a Real Problem

There’s nothing more precious than life — except, that is, if you live in the world of The Discovery, the new thriller from director Charlie McDowell (The One I Love). Here, humanity has established scientific proof of an afterlife, and is slowly torn apart by an increasing desire to “cross over” via suicide. The all-star film will have its world premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival before debuting exclusively on Netflix; ahead of those bows, we now have its sterling first trailer (watch it above).

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Starring Jason Segel, Rooney Mara, Jesse Plemons, Riley Keough, and Robert Redford, The Discovery’s first promo keeps the particulars vague, but sets a chilling mood. It opens with a series of cheery sights of Segel and Mara (who appear to be a romantic couple) to the lively if blue sound of Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely” — until the music glitches, slows to a syrupy pace, and distorts as the images take a sinister turn: robed individuals bow their heads while sitting in a circle; an older man is hooked up to some unsettling-looking machine; Segel and Mara lift a body bag from their car; a public ticker details how many days since the last person took his or her own life.

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The first trailer for The Discovery is an attention grabber, marking the film as a potential highlight of the upcoming Sundance fest, and a must-watch when it debuts for streaming on Netflix on March 31.

Robert Redford Doesn’t Want His Movies to Be Remade: