A24 has shared the first look at “Beau Is Afraid,” the upcoming horror from “Midsommar” director Ari Aster. Joaquin Phoenix stars in the film as a successful entrepreneur, and the narrative is said to follow the character across multiple decades.
The official “Beau Is Afraid” synopsis from A24 reads: “A paranoid man embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved new film from writer-director Ari Aster.”
In addition to Phoenix, confirmed cast members for the film include Nathan Lane, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Kylie Rogers, Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Hayley Squires, Michael Gandolfini, Zoe Lister-Jones and Richard Kind.
Phoenix comes into the new Aster film after his best actor win for portraying Arthur Fleck in Todd Phillips’ 2019 DC Comics film “Joker,” in addition to starring in Mike Mills’ 2019 festival darling “C’mon, C’mon” as a radio journalist whose young and energetic nephew gives him a new perspective on life. He will play Arthur Fleck again opposite Lady Gaga in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which is billed as a musical.
“Beau Is Afraid,” which was previously titled “Disappointment Blvd,” is Aster’s third collaborative effort with A24, following his breakout horror hits “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” which released in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In the former, which was also Aster’s feature directorial debut, he directed a cast including Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro and Gabriel Byrne as a family who is seemingly haunted by a mysterious presence after their secretive grandmother dies. Starring Florence Pugh, “Midsommar” follows a couple who travels to Sweden for a flower-filled Midsummer festival that turns out to be much darker than it appears.
Aster penned the screenplay for “Beau Is Afraid” in addition to producing alongside Lars Knudsen. The film is set for release April 21.
Check out the trailer below.
