The first trailer [1] for Steve Carell [2]'s upcoming film Welcome to Marwen [3] came out this Summer, and we've been intrigued ever since. The movie, directed by Robert Zemeckis and based on Jeff Malmberg's award-winning 2010 documentary, Marwencol [4], sees Carell playing the real-life Mark Hogancamp [5], a man who was beaten into a coma and spent 40 days in the hospital. After the attack left him with brain damage and PTSD, Hogancamp immersed himself in an intricate world of World War II-era miniatures as a form of art therapy.

In our exclusive clip from the movie, you see how Zemeckis mashes both worlds together — Hogancamp's fictional, tiny town of Marwen and his actual reality — when Carell's Mark bonds with his new neighbor, Nicol (Leslie Mann). Welcome to Marwen also stars Diane Kruger [6], Merritt Wever, Janelle Monáe, Eiza González, and Gwendolyn Christie, and it hits theaters on Dec. 21.