Warner Bros. has made a move to capitalize on the lingering romance ahead of Valentine’s Day by releasing the maiden trailer for Thea Sharrock’s Me Before You – giving our heartstrings a good ol’ tug in the process.
Placing Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin – Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games, respectively – at the heart of the tale, today’s snippet introduces the latter’s quadriplegic, a bitter yet intellectual young banker who has resigned to living out the rest of his days in a wheelchair. On the other side of the budding romance, Clarke’s wide-eyed Louisa “Lou” Clark takes on the role of a caretaker on a whim when her future prospects leave her with little option, and the pair soon fall madly in love.
In the clip above, you’ll find Me Before You author Jojo Moyes prefacing the reveal of the first trailer, and it’s clear Moyes’ heart-wrenching tale has touched those involved. Speaking to USA Today, Emilia Clarke revealed that she was head over heels from the off: “Actors cannot invest too much in auditions. It’s too heartbreaking if you don’t get it. But this one I was like, ‘I’m doing it.’ I was madly into it. Every fiber of me felt like someone had written me down.”
Also starring Matthew Lewis, Jenna Coleman and fellow Game of Thrones cohort Charles Dance, Me Before You opens on June 3.
Louisa “Lou” Clark (Clarke) lives in a quaint town in the English countryside. With no clear direction in her life, the quirky and creative 26-year-old goes from one job to the next in order to help her tight-knit family make ends meet.
Her normally cheery outlook is put to the test, however, when she faces her newest career challenge. Taking a job at the local “castle,” she becomes caregiver and companion to Will Traynor (Claflin), a wealthy young banker who became wheelchair bound in an accident two years prior, and whose whole world changed dramatically in the blink of an eye. No longer the adventurous soul he once was, the now cynical Will has all but given up. That is until Lou determines to show him that life is worth living. Embarking together on a series of adventures, both Lou and Will get more than they bargained for, and find their lives—and hearts—changing in ways neither one could have imagined.