‘The Good Half’ stars Nick Jonas, David Arquette, Brittany Snow, Alexandra Shipp, Matt Walsh and Elisabeth Shue
Nick Jonas is leading an emotional new film about grief.
The first trailer for The Good Half, which PEOPLE is exclusively debuting, stars Jonas as Renn Wheeland who, “after years spent avoiding his problems, is forced to face his greatest fear: the recent death of his mother, Lily (Elisabeth Shue),” according to a synopsis for the movie, which premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.
“While traveling home to Cleveland for her funeral, he forges a new relationship with fellow passenger Zoey (Alexandra Shipp), and later, heals an old one with his overbearing sister Leigh (Brittany Snow),” the synopsis adds.
“Together, with the help of his eager-to-connect father Darren (Matt Walsh), an old high-school friend and a hoarder priest, Renn tries to confront his past, his problems, his stepfather (David Arquette), his grief and his new reality.”
Robert Schwartzman, the movie’s director, tells PEOPLE that screenwriter Brett Ryland penned a script that “really resonated with me because I dealt with a similar experience: I lost my father at a young age to cancer and am still working through it.”
“It felt familiar to me to revisit this type of experience through the main character and to revisit this family dynamic,” said Schwartzman, 41. “I think these kinds of stories can be a welcoming experience to working through grief, especially with loss to cancer.”
Interspersed with moments of humor, the trailer shows Renn’s journey back home for the funeral, where he and Leigh wrestle simultaneously with arrangements, grief and their relationship with one another.
The preview also gives a glimpse at Renn and Zoey’s relationship progression, beginning with their first meeting on the plane.
“It feels like there’s two halves of my life,” Renn tells his sister at the end of the trailer, to which she responds through tears, “I wouldn’t trade my half for the whole world.”
Schwartzman — who made his directorial debut with 2016’s Dreamland and has appeared as an actor in films like The Virgin Suicides (1999) and The Princess Diaries (2001) — says he and Jonas, 31, “go way back” to 2008 “and have a sort of shorthand” between them.
“Nick was very committed to the film, very dedicated to this character and stepping up in his first leading role,” the director adds. “Also working on an indie film, having to be willing to put emphasis telling this story while working quickly and trusting in the process. He was ‘in it’ every step of the way, as far as bringing the character to life and supporting the material and my vision for the film.”
