‘Misery’ for the 21st century
A trailer for Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst’s new movie, The Fanatic, starring John Travolta as a fan-turned-stalker, has been released.
The movie was initially titled Moose after Travolta’s character, a socially awkward cinephile obsessed with his favourite celebrity, Hunter Dunbar (played by Devon Sawa). As the trailer reveals, Moose finds a way to get closer to his idol, but is rebuffed. It all goes all-out Misery from there. “I just wanted an autograph!” Moose cries, donning a Jason Voorhees mask to terrorise Dunbar. Watch the trailer here:
Last year, Travolta called working with Durst on The Fanatic “maybe my favourite experience I’ve had”. He praised the Limp Bizkit man as a “generous” collaborator and “such an artist”.
“He allowed me to create a character that no one else would allow,” Travolta said. “It’s really a wild character and I felt very free to do that.” The film is apparently based on a real-life experience Durst had with a stalker.
Durst made his directorial debut in 2007 with The Education of Charlie Banks, which starred Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Ritter. The Fanatic will be his first film in more than a decade. It hits theatres on August 30 and will be available on demand and VOD a week later.
