Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig Are Headed For Doom in the First White Noise Teaser

Indie power couple Noah Baumbach aren’t known for making the type of films that involve fiery explosions. But there’s a surprising amount of action in the first teaser for Baumbach’s White Noise, the upcoming Netflix film starring Gerwig opposite Adam Driver. Our first look at his take on Don DeLillo’s classic 1985 novel begins with the pair stuck in a traffic jam on a dark, rainy night. The longer they wait, the more their characters, Babette and Jack, and children, feel a sense of impending doom. What exactly happens next remains a mystery, but clearly, something’s a bit off in the bucolic town where Jack teaches “Hitler studies.”

We next see ordinary scenes like Jack talking with his colleague Professor Murray Siskind (Don Cheadle) and Babette teaching kids how to hula hoop. They’re interspersed with more apocalyptic footage, like Jack crawling as his neighbors run for cover and a car bursting into flames—the only real hints at the film’s plot for those unfamiliar with the novel. Jack and Babette are obsessed with and terrified by death, and the latter’s quest to obtain a fictional drug that purportedly minimizes that terror leads her to have an affair. To make matters worse, a chemical spill leads to what becomes known as “The Airborne Toxic Event,” forcing the whole town to evacuate.

White Noise is set to become the first Netflix production to premiere at the Venice Film Festival next week. And while the streaming service has yet to announce the date of its wide release, rest assured that it will be much, much sooner than that of Baumbach and Gerwig’s other upcoming collab, Barbie: Their reimagining of the Mattel universe starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling (whose life in plastic as Barbie and Ken isn’t so fantastic) doesn’t hit theaters until July of 2023. As we await both projects, get your first look at White Noise below.