Sony Pictures Classics has released the first image of Emma Stone (Gangster Squad) and Joaquin Phoenix (Her) in Woody Allen‘s one-per-year 2015 film, Irrational Man. The image sees Stone gazing admiringly at Phoenix. This falls right in line with the film’s plot which will follow a philosophy professor (Phoenix) who has an affair with one of his students (Stone).
The story picks up on the pervasive Allen themes of death, philosophy, and the irrationality of both subjects. Besides themes, Irrational Man will also feature the familiar student-teacher, or older man/younger woman dynamic that Allen often explores. He portrayed another professor-student affair between himself and Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers) in his 1992 film Husbands and Wives. His 2014 film, Magic in the Moonlight, also featured a flirtation between Stone and her older co-star Colin Firth (The King’s Speech). Despite his tendency to repeat themes or story lines, Allen typically finds something fresh and intriguing to say in each of his films – a fact which has kept high-profile actors lining up throughout the years to collaborate with him.
The film also stars Parker Posey (Best in Show), Ben Rosenfield (A Most Violent Year), Jamie Blackley (If I Stay), and Ethan Phillips (Inside Llewyn Davis). The film will hit theaters July 17, and there is also speculation that it will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival before then.