UPDATE 04/16/2021: Filming is planned to begin on June 28 in Canada.
UPDATE: Deadline has confirmed the report and the film is now titled Disappointment Blvd
Film fans, prepare for a splendid collaboration between two icons. Joaquin Phoenix is in talks to star in Ari Aster’s upcoming film Beau is Afraid.
Per sources, the film was described to me as a surrealist horror film set in an alternate present. If Joaquin Phoenix signs on, he will play the lead role.
This will likely be Ari Aster’s next film with the project said to be a priority for himself. He will write, direct, and produce the film with the project set to go through his production company Square Peg.
Aster and the producers are hoping Joaquin Phoenix signs on, and therefore are holding off before deciding when to begin filming. Joaquin Phoenix has many upcoming projects, specifically his next one, Kitbag, a Napeoloen Bonaparte biopic for 20th Century Studios under director Ridley Scott.
The current plan for the film sounds…crazy! An anxious man (Joaquin Phoenix) learns of the death of his mother under mysterious circumstances and upon traveling home makes an alarming discovery about his past. During his journey, he runs into various crazy supernatural threats.
I heard some of these threats featured in the movie, and they sound like some of the craziest ideas that Ari Aster has ever came up with.
Ari Aster is a critically acclaimed director known for his recent 2 horror hits, Midsommar starring Florence Pugh and Hereditary starring Toni Collette.
Even Martin Scorsese himself has given huge praise to Ari Aster in the past, stating that “Here was a young filmmaker that obviously knew cinema. The formal control, the precision of the framing and the movement within the frame, the pacing of the action, the sound – it was all there, immediately evident.”
There are no plans for when the film will begin production but we will update on this project once we hear more details. No distributor is attached yet, however, given that Aster has worked with A24 on his previous two films, it seems likely they will nab this project regardless whether Joaquin Phoenix signs on
