A full-length trailer for director Juan Antonio Bayona‘s (The Impossible) latest project, A Monster Calls hit the web on Wednesday with an introduction from star Liam Neeson. Based on the award-winning children’s fantasy novel of the same name by Patrick Ness, the story follows 12-year-old Conor (Lewis MacDougall) who attempts to deal with his mother’s (Felicity Jones) illness, his father’s absence and the bullying of his classmates by escaping into a fantasy world full of monsters and fairy tales that explore courage, loss, and faith.
It’s his mother who teaches the young boy to embrace his creative side by drawing and coloring things only they could imagine. It’s by putting a pencil to paper that helps Conor feel closer to his mother, no matter how far apart they are.
“I know everything about you, the giant tree monster (voiced by Neeson) says to Conor in the trailer. “The truth that you hide, the truth you dream.”
The film co-stars Sigourney Weaver (The Cold Light of Day) as Conor’s grandmother, Toby Kebbell (Warcraft) as the boy’s father, and Geraldine Chaplin (The Forbidden Room).
The fantasy drama opens in theaters nationwide on October 21.
