‘Pavements’ Breaks the Mold of a Typical Biopic With New Trailer

Alt-rock greats Pavement are getting the biopic treatment, but the newest trailer for the upcoming film advertises that the project is less classic biopic and more “museum,” “movie” and a “reunion.”

In the nearly three-minute clip for Pavements, Stranger Things’ Joe Keery stars as frontman Stephen Malkmus. “It’s good for my career, maybe win an award or something,” Keery jokes at one point in the video about why he took on the role. “I can’t play Billy Joel.” 

The trailer also features Nat Wolff as Scott ‘Spiral Stairs’ Kannberg, Fred Hechinger as Bob Nastanovich, Logan Miller as Mark Ibold, Griffin Newman as Steve West, and Jason Schwartzman as Matador Records’ Chris Lombardi.

“Pavements is a movie about Pavement the band—among other things,” the official film description reads. “The latest film from acclaimed director Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell) is a documentary that may or may not be entirely true, may or may not be totally sincere, and may or may not be more about the idea of the band—or any band—than a history of the short-lived, passionately loved, commercially marginal Nineties American alternative group Pavement. This unconventional film about a highly unconventional band incorporates a stage musical, rock biopic, gallery exhibition, archival footage, and contemporary observational footage to create a film as irreducible, uncharacterizable, and entertaining as the band and its music.”

The real-life California band were active from 1989 until 1999, releasing a total of five albums, including 1992’s Slanted and Enchanted, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and 1997’s Brighten the Corners, which gave the group their highest-charting U.S. release when it hit No. 70 on the Billboard 200. Their final album was 1999’s Major Leagues.

In December, Kannberg revealed in an interview with the Kreative Kontrol podcast that the Pavements soundtrack will also feature the first new song from the band in more than 25 years. “There will be a new Pavement song on the soundtrack, that’s all I’m going to give you,” he explained. “I just heard a mix of it today, and it’s pretty good. It’s not a big deal, it’s just cool because it’s something different and it’s a song that we all kind of loved playing.”

Pavements will hit theaters nationwide on June 6. Watch the new trailer below.