Ahead of the first trailer debut on Friday, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures has unveiled a 19-second teaser for director George Miller’s long-awaited follow-up to his modern classic Mad Max: Fury Road, the epic fantasy romance film Three Thousand Years of Longing. Based on the short story “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” by A.S. Byatt, Three Thousand Years of Longing will have its world premiere at the ongoing 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
While it’s just 19 seconds long, the trailer tease positively invites viewers to pour over every frame. Essentially a burst of vivid images from the film, the tease reveals what appears to be a lush, visually resplendent epic brimming with Miller’s trademark blend of sound and fury. You might even be reminded of Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain. We see glimpses of Idris Elba’s character, a Djinn, screaming and turning into fumes, only to be trapped inside a magic lamp.
“From the mad genius of George Miller,” the teaser declares, before revealing epic battles, gorgeous tableaus, a beheading (?) and a particularly dangerous looking spider. The teaser also reveals the film’s dual settings—while some shots appear to reveal a story set in contemporary times, most of it appears to be based in fantasy flashbacks.
Three Thousand Years of Longing stars Tilda Swinton as an academic who comes across a Djinn, who grants her three wishes. Initially skeptical, the academic gives in after the Djinn beguiles her with stories of the past. The film also brings back Miller’s celebrated Mad Max: Fury Road crew members, such as composer Tom Holkenborg, editor Margaret Sixel and director of photography John Seale, who was pulled out of retirement by Miller the last time around.
Three Thousand Years of Longing is rated R “for some sexual content, graphic nudity and brief violence,” and is executive produced by Dean Hood, Craig McMahon and Kevin Sun. The film is slated for an August 31 release in theaters.
You can watch the teaser down below.
Here's the official synopsis for Three Thousand Years of Longing:
Dr Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic - content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.