Mads Mikkelsen Hunts Monsters in First Trailer for Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny

By Jim Vorel  |  September 8, 2025 | 10:25am
Movies News dust bunny
Mads Mikkelsen Hunts Monsters in First Trailer for Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny

Is it possible to be both hyped up for a film and deeply confused by the tone of its first footage at the same time? If so, that’s us just now after watching the first trailer for Bryan Fuller’s upcoming Dust Bunny, about to make its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s safe to say that Fuller’s feature film debut (after acclaimed series such as Pushing Daisies and Hannibal) belongs in the “genre” pool, but what genre exactly? And what kind of tone exactly is this story of a girl and her hitman friend meant to evoke? Family fantasy? Supernatural horror? Serious drama? Or all of the above? The official synopsis, meanwhile, is as follows:

In visionary creator Bryan Fuller’s fantastical and wickedly inventive feature directorial debut Dust Bunny, a 10-year-old girl joins forces with her hit man neighbor to confront each other’s monsters. Ten-year-old Aurora has a mysterious neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen) who kills real-life monsters. He’s a hit man for hire. So, when Aurora needs help killing the monster she believes ate her entire family, she procures his services. Suspecting that her parents may have fallen victim to assassins gunning for him, Aurora’s neighbor guiltily takes the job. Now, to protect her, he’ll need to battle an onslaught of assassins ― and accept that some monsters are real.

There certainly seems to be some supernatural action happening in the wild Dust Bunny trailer embedded below, suggesting that the final film might be one part Leon: The Professional, and another part … oh, I don’t know, maybe 1989’s Little Monsters, which saw a kid befriend the monster in his closet and be introduced to a Beetlejuice-style parallel dimension? One thing is clear: Fuller is bringing the sort of colorful and over-the-top visual aesthetic to this film that was a signature of Pushing Daisies, a non-realistic and hyper-stylized look that calls to mind fantasists such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Michel Gondry. But he’s also including Sigourney Weaver firing what appears to be dual pistols built into high heel shoes, so who the hell knows?

Dust Bunny will premiere at TIFF on Sept. 9, 2025, followed by theatrical release in the U.S. on Dec. 12. In the meantime, check out the rollicking first trailer below.

 
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