The first poster for Ari Aster's new film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, reveals long-awaited information about the upcoming A24 project that is sure to excite fans, as it represents the director’s transition from horror to something now described as genre-defining. A visionary known for recently putting horror films back on the map, between his feature-length directorial debut in Hereditary and his follow-up Midsommar, Aster now treads through undiscovered territory in his third film.Aster is also producing Dream Scenario, an upcoming A24 film starring Nicolas Cage. It is described as a comedy, not unlike the new film that the director has been working on, which received a new poster and title that may hold some semblance to one of Aster's previous short films. While the director's new projects are slightly different from what fans have come to expect, they are both under the A24 studio, like his previous two films. Despite this transitional period for the director, Aster assures fans that “head trauma” will remain a common theme in his upcoming projects.Disappointment Blvd. was the original title of the A24 film directed by Aster and was anticipated to have debuted in 2022. However, after the release of the new poster for the “nightmare comedy” film, the name seems to have changed to Beau is Afraid, which may be connected to his 2011 short film titled Beau. The poster for the film shows a boy, presumed to be Beau, in silk pyjamas contrasted with what appears to be a clear sky.
Viewers would not be blamed for thinking that the title of the film was “Joaquin Phoenix,” seeing as how the actor’s name is large, front and center, taking up a majority of the space surrounded by the smaller text of the director, studio, and title. An older version of Beau showcases Phoenix's dramatic transformation as the character wearing the same pyjamas from the poster, which reflects the “nightmare” that audiences will witness as the account of this man's life. The boy in the Beau is Afraid poster is a younger version of Phoenix's character, Beau, and the film will detail an “intimate, decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.”
An official look at Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux just came out, suggesting a busy year for the actor, as he will be starring in three highly anticipated films for 2023, including Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. How the visionary director will weave comedy and horror together should be fascinating to behold, and thankfully audiences do not have long to wait.
Beau Is Afraid is scheduled to release in 2023.
Source: Indiewire