‘The Subtle Art of of Not Giving a F*ck’ Trailer Wants to Help You Figure Out the Right ‘F*cks’ to Give

The best-selling self-help book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, is getting the full documentary treatment, with a new trailer for the film arriving today.
The new film is directed by Nathan Price and stars the book’s author, Mark Manson, who serves as a guide through the ceaseless barrage of modern life, and the existential dread and malaise it so often inspires. Manson shares a handful of self-esteem-boosting nuggets in the clip, like the friendly reminder that we’re all gonna die one day and the wizened quip, “Making a lot of money might make you feel good, but it won’t make your kids love you.”
The trailer offers a look at how Price transformed a self-help book into a feature-length documentary. There’s a lot of archival and stock footage to accentuate Manson’s points, while his interviews aren’t just talking-head affairs but cinematic scenes involving synchronized swimmers. The “Disappointment Panda,” a character Manson created for the book, also appears, smashing up a dreary office at one point.
“It’d be a hell of a lot easier if I could just hit you with six easy steps to life success,” Manson says at the end of the clip. “But to really get into this stuff, you gotta feel it. I guess I’m gonna have to dig up some old, painful shit.”
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck will hit select theaters on Jan. 4 before arriving on digital on-demand services on Jan. 9.