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Watch Paul Dano and John Cusack Both Play Troubled Beach Boys star Brian Wilson

Like many rock gods, the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson was a victim of his own success: The singer-songwriter found spectacular fame and acclaim thanks to such hits as “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” But drugs and depression — not to mention an abusive, pill-pushing doctor — eventually forced Wilson to withdraw from the public eye for years. When he finally re-emerged, many of his works (including the 1966 album Pet Sounds) were widely considered classics. But it would take the sensitive singer-songwriter years to reclaim his former glories.

The surf rocker-turned-experimental pop genius’s decades-long story is told the forthcoming biopic Love and Mercy, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is set to be released on June 5 by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions.

The film stars Paul Dano as the young Wilson, a music prodigy who becomes increasingly erratic after the release of Pet Sounds. John Cusack, meanwhile, plays Wilson years later, as he tries to recover from the abusive care of Dr. Eugene Landy (played by Paul Giamatti), a psychologist who kept him doped up and sheltered from the world.

Love & Mercy, which takes its title from Wilson’s 1988 solo album, uses a dual chronology to cut between the two Wilsons, chronicling his rise, fall, and reemergence — one made possible due to his wife, Melinda Ledbetter, whom he met in the ’80s. It’s the first directorial effort in 25 years from 12 Years a Slave producer Bill Pohlad, one of the sons of the late billionaire investor and Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad.

The movie received decent reviews out of Toronto, where it was bought for $3 million. Variety called the film a “wonderfully innervating cure for the common musical biopic,” while the Los Angeles Times’critic, equally weary of the form, said Love & Mercy was a “refreshing surprise.”

The young Brian Wilson and Paul Dano in the movie; The older Wilson and John Cusack in the movie