Perfecting the Beach Boys' 'Wouldn’t It Be Nice' in a New 'Love & Mercy' Clip (Exclusive)
Love & Mercy, the new drama that hits theater on Friday, tells the story of the Beach Boys’ musical mastermind Brian Wilson as he attempts to reclaim his life after years mired in drugs and mental illness. But the movie also depicts Wilson’s creative genius, as seen in the clip above, which shows a studio session during the recording of the iconic Beach Boys song “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”
Love & Mercy, which was directed by 12 Years a Slave producer Bill Pohlad, cuts back and forth between Wilson in his younger years (played then by Paul Dano) and an older, more isolated Wilson (John Cusack) who’s trying to get out from under the thumb of his controlling psychiatrist, Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti). In this scene, we see Dano as a young Wilson during the recording of the band’s seminal 1966 album, Pet Sounds, as he’s working out the complex structure of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” with the studio musicians.
We already get hints that this will be a pop song like no other: We see Wilson obsessively coaching the drummer through the single thumping drum beat that kicks off the song’s first verse. (This exchange closely mirrors a vintage audio recording of the real Wilson during the song’s actual studio session.) And the orchestration is so unusual, the bass player initially thinks Wilson made a mistake. “I think it’s going to work,” he says. “Let’s try it.”
Love & Mercy hits theaters Friday. In the meantime, you can watch the full trailer below:
