Ari Aster turned heads at Sundance 2018 with his incredibly realized neo-horror film “Hereditary.” The following year he polarized movie fans with his love/hate statement “Midsommar,” a film I was lukewarm on, upon initial viewing, until I finally caught up with the 3-hour director’s cut at home and had a total 180 opinion reversal.
After giving us this one-two punch, Aster began working on his next movie. Interviewed by the Associated Students Program Board at UC Santa Barbara last June, the filmmaker discussed what might be coming down the pipeline for him and while he didn’t go into specific detail about this new movie, the writer-director did say that it would be a 4-hour “nightmare comedy.
Today, Discussing Film reports that Aster will start filming his new movie “Disappointment Boulevard” in Canada on June 28th. Aster will be re-teaming with A24 for his next project. Joaquin Phoenix is set to star in this mysterious new movie which originally went by the title of “Beau is Afraid.” In 2011, Aster directed a short film titled “Beau.” Described as a “surrealist horror film set in an alternate present,” Phoenix’s character would play an “extremely anxious but pleasant-looking man who has a fraught relationship with his overbearing mother and never knew his father.” When his mother dies, he makes a journey home that involves some wild supernatural threats.
The plot is described as ‘an intimate, decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time. It’s also unclear if the film will be based on an actual person or a fictional character. But we’ll keep up to date on the film as it progresses. And pass along further updates as we hear them. Stay tuned!
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.