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Ben Kingsley mind-jumps into Ryan Reynolds in the first trailer for Selfless

Ben Kingsley mind-jumps into Ryan Reynolds in the first trailer for Selfless

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Ryan Reynolds hasn't exactly had the best success at the box office lately, but maybe jumping into some stylish sci-fi will help change that. This is the first trailer from Selfless, a film about a dying mogul (Ben Kingsley) who discovers that the best way to prolong his life is to actually have his consciousness transferred into the body of a younger man (an "empty vessel," a sufficiently creepy-looking scientist says). As one might expect, Kingsley-turned-Reynolds then has a) a lot of party-down fun times, because he's suddenly in the body of a young good-looking guy, and then b) suffers complications, when the memories of his host body start coming back to him.

From the director of 'The Cell'

The film is directed by Tarsem Singh, a director that has no shortage of brilliant visuals on his resume (he directed The Cell and countless music videos and commercials), although story hasn't necessarily been his strong suit. Things seem fairly standard-issue here as well, but perhaps what's most interesting thus far is the way the trailer was released. Yesterday, dozens of journalists received mysterious packages that included a smartphone and a note from a company named Phoenix Biogenic. (It's the same company that Kingsley goes to for his consciousness transfer in the film.) The note warned everyone to stay near the mysterious phones at a specific time this morning, at which point further instructions would arrive.

When the time came, it was simply a link to the movie's trailer — but who knows what could happen next. I'll be keeping my phone on in the hopes that I'll soon be kidnapped by a bunch of mysterious publicists and whisked away into an elaborate adventure. Or maybe I'll just watch The Game again.