Ari Aster’s fourth feature as a director is officially a go at A24. Aster is set to direct “Eddington” with A24 both financing and producing.
The film will reunite Aster with his “Beau Is Afraid” star Joaquin Phoenix alongside a cast that also includes Pedro Pascal, newly minted Oscar winner Emma Stone, “Yellowstone” star Luke Grimes, as well as Austin Butler, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, and Clifton Collins Jr.
Production kicks off on “Eddington” this week.
The official logline says only that “Eddington” follows a small-town New Mexico sheriff with higher aspirations. There have been rumors that the film is a Western set during the pandemic in which a couple runs out of gas in the small town of Eddington and are greeted warmly, only for the town to turn nightmarish by nightfall.
Aster said during a Reddit AMA as far back as the release of “Hereditary” that he was kicking around an idea for “Eddington” that he described as a “Western-noir dark ensemble comedy” and even felt it could be his debut feature.
Aster will both write and direct “Eddington,” and he’ll also produce alongside Lars Knudsen under their Square Peg banner. This is the sixth production between Square Peg and A24, which in addition to Aster’s “Hereditary,” “Midsommar,” and “Beau Is Afraid” includes last year’s Nicolas Cage comedy “Dream Scenario” and the upcoming “Death of a Unicorne” starring Jenna Ortega.
Darius Khondji, an Oscar nominee for “Bardo” and “Evita,” has joined the project as its director of photography, making this Aster’s first feature not shot by Pawel Pogorzelski.
Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid” from last year was a box office flop for A24, costing $35 million but pulling in only $11.9 million at the global box office. Aster, too, has acknowledged his disappointment in its frigid reception. The three-hour fantasy horror film polarized critics as well, but the film has its ardent cult supporters, with both IndieWire and John Waters among its champions.
Phoenix will next be seen in the “Joker” sequel “Joker: Folie à Deux” co-starring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. Pascal has a cameo in Ethan Coen’s “Drive-Away Dolls” currently in theaters and recently wrapped production on “Gladiator 2.” Stone just won her second Oscar, this time for Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things.” She also teamed with A24 on the Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie series for Showtime, “The Curse,” and she’ll again be seen in Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness.”
