A Vengeful Beast Is Out to Kill Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd in A24’s ‘Death of a Unicorn’ Trailer

3 days ago 3

Lots of people hit a deer, but how many can say they’ve mowed down an honest-to-goodness unicorn?

Father and daughter duo Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega accidentally do exactly that while on the way to a mini-retreat in A24’s “Death of a Unicorn” trailer. It’s gonna be a weird — and deadly — weekend at big pharma billionaire Richard E. Grant’s mountain getaway.

Naturally, Grant’s character — who is Rudd’s boss — “seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties.” Evidently, the horn shavings cure cancer, and as Will Poulter reminds us, cancer is “the biggest one.” So nice of you to change out of your swim shorts for that announcement, Will.

Edward Norton, James Mangold, and Timothée Chalamet attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Searchlight Pictures "A Complete Unknown" at Dolby Theatre

There’s just one problem with all of this, and we’re not talking about Rudd’s demolished SUV. Little unicorn has a mom (and/or a dad?), and she (and/or he) is pissed. As Leoni points out, the big one’s horn is “rather girth-some” — and also it glows. And that’s about when scientists start getting impaled.

“Death of a Unicorn” is written and directed by Alex Scharfman. In addition to Rudd, Ortega, Poulter, and Grant, the A24 film also stars Téa Leoni.

Ortega rose to superstardom status as the titular lead of Netflix’s smash hit series “Wednesday,” directed and executive produced by Tim Burton. The new take on “The Addams Family” focuses on Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy — and as an emerging psychic. Ortega also starred in Burton’s recent “Beetlejuice” sequel, “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.”

Rudd, meanwhile, you know from literally everything since “Clueless.” And no, he has not aged a day since 1995.

A24 is the indie studio behind “Moonlight,” “Lady Bird,” “Ex Machina,” “The Witch,” “Eighth Grade,” “Hereditary,” and more films. Upcoming A24 releases also include “Babygirl,” Warfare,” “The Legend of Ochi,” and “The Brutalist” starring Adrien Brody. Right around the same time that A24 released the trailer for “Death of a Unicorn,” IndieWire published a wide-ranging interview with “The Brutalist” director Brady Corbet. The R-rated film nearly entered theaters as unrated or even NC-17; read the conversation here.

Watch the trailer below, and catch “Death of a Unicorn” in theaters this spring.