Nathan Fielder Denies “Curse’ Promo Sent Up ‘Anyone But You’

Nathan Fielder is a tricky player. Nathan for you ended with a hall of mirrors epic it left viewers with more questions than answers. There was a time when he took over what should have been a simple How to do it with John Wilson behind the scenes video. Then there were the endless hairpin turns and ethical issues in Repetition. When a new trailer for his latest show, The curse, dropped Friday, began with what appeared to be a parody of another high-profile ad. Now he denies that is the case. Or is he?

By The AV Club, the alleged lampoon in question finds Fielder and co-star Emma Stone doing one of those awkward intros where they pretend to have chemistry but mostly remind viewers of the Bruce Valanch-scripted jokes that presenters make at the Oscars. Thing is, it came out around the same time as a similar prelude that Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell made for the upcoming romantic comedy. Anyone but you.

There are a lot of similarities. Both feature a tall male and a smaller female standing in front of a grayish background. Even their clothes have similar colors. Were Fielder and Stone consciously mocking Sweeney and Powell (or at least the presumably contractual requirement they had to fulfill)? Was it the other way around?

Anyway, Fielder claims he’s as confused as you are.

In a post first posted to his Instagram account, Fielder claims that he and Stone filmed their promo “over six months ago,” so there’s no chance they could have pulled off a quick parody of an advertisement that was only recently posted online. In fact, he says he’s “seriously concerned that the marketing team at Sony Pictures saw our promo and copied it.” He also said he “personally will not pursue legal action” over the matter, although it is “unfortunate that Sydney, Glen, Emma and myself have been put in this situation.” He also said that he and Stone will “personally reserve front row seats to Anywhere But You on opening night.”

This clears things up. Or is it? Fielder has a history of misleading the public about the real Nathan Fielder. For example, he and Stone recently continued Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he debuted the “real” Nathan Fielder: a cool guy who wears sunglasses, a beret, an earring and lots of black. Could this be some sort of coordination between the Curse And Anyone but you teams to make a meta joke? Is anything real?

But for now, The curse airs new episodes on Showtime on Sundays while Anybody But You hits theaters on December 15.

(Via The AV Club)