(Warning: Contains major spoilers about this article Beau is scared.)
Ari Aster makes films that need to be unpacked, but she doesn’t particularly like opening packages herself. Aster, who is aware that anything he says can affect the perception of the audience, pauses for a long time while talking about his films and chooses every word carefully. He can be a little shrewd at times, dancing around questions that risk spelling out the plot points that are open to interpretation. Lynchian translucency is part of what keeps indie film students bowing at the Aster altar.
That, and the 36-year-old director’s affiliation with A24, the popular studio behind all three of his traits. his last, Beau is scaredfollows hereditary And midsommar while serving a species-shifting freak who guarantees polarization.
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already seen it. Beautiful, but here’s a spoiler-y synopsis: Joaquin Phoenix plays a neurotic jerk who tries to embark on a Homeric adventure to his mother’s funeral. After a few unintended detours, the so-called memorial service appeared after it was over, and at this point Beautiful turns into a frenzied tour through lifelong maternal problems that turn her into a 49-year-old virgin.
He eventually gets used to the sounds of a Mariah Carey classic, but encounters a gigantic penis monster that is the incarnation of the father he never really knew. She is later tried in a court of law Truman showThe -esque coliseum is where her mother is blamed for all the reasons she despised her. Eventually the skinny boat Beau came from explodes and dies.
Whereas hereditary And midsommar can safely be labeled fear, Beautiful It’s a bad comedy. But all three explore how family history invades a person’s psyche for punitive, inevitable effect. They also contain something that might be Aster’s specialty: smashed heads. (In this case, the decapitation happens to one and only Patti LuPone, who gives a fabulous performance as Beau’s favorite mother who is killed by a falling chandelier. Or was it her? The answer depends on how long you think the story goes. Aster, The Daily He spoke with Beast’s Obsessed about some of the highlights of the movie.
This is your third trip. What makes it feel different this time?
I might be more defensive than I was the first two times going through the whole press cycle just because I regretted saying anything about any movie. There was never a time when I thought, “Oh, I’m really glad I used those words and now they’re used in the movie.” So I try to do as little as possible to confuse what anyone’s experience with the movie might be at the end.
It was always your job. I’ve talked to you about every movie you’ve made, and I remember trying to get the details of those movies. hereditary I can tell you that explaining or clarifying things is not actually the way you want to talk about your movies. That’s how many creatives feel. But I think this movie will be discussed as your most personal movie, like a three hour Oedipal therapy session for Ari Aster. How comfortable are you with this comment?
It’s not a therapy session for Ari Aster. A therapy session for Beau Wassermann. Personal but by no means autobiographical. I hope there is something universal here, but I don’t know. Perhaps this shows how far I am from the rest of the human race. But I hope people can relate to Beau and whatever his experience is.
Wchicken midsommar you came out aforementioned from now on you were going to do a local melodrama or an absurd black comedy. I’m assuming this is absurd black comedy. did it have anything to do with their experience? hereditary And midsommar– and perhaps the fact that they were both quite successful – that made you decide to fight. Beautiful Next?
After that I wanted to do something funny. Beautiful It was a movie I wanted to make for a long time. It seemed like the right time. It seemed like the hardest thing to do to me, so I’ll just try and go to one of the others if we can’t clear it. It doesn’t hurt to try, as it’s the biggest hit in some ways. I was really excited that A24 saw what it was and was excited about it and gave me the resources and freedom to do it.
Beautiful It can be described in many ways, but after all, this is just a movie about a man who really needs to have sex, right?
Certainly. This is not wrong.
Sometimes it’s extraordinarily difficult to discern whether what we’re seeing is just in Beau’s head. For example, how much of the chaos on the streets of New York is real? The city was plunged into complete lawlessness.
Well this world Beau is scared. I mean, literally. It’s not like the product of the mind. I want you to be close to Beau and be in his experience, but it’s his experience traveling the world. And the world, if anything, should be a clown mirror of the real world, which is as terrifying as ours, but with the dial turned upside down.
Many of us have dealt with the death of a parent or a suffocating relationship with a parent, and you’re turning it into such fun and eclectic ways. How quickly did you arrive at the method of death when you decided to focus the movie on Beau going to his mother’s funeral? Where did the chandelier come into play for you?
Honestly, it made me laugh. I just had to put another smashed head into the movie.
IT is is your third movie with a significantly damaged head.
Yes, I’m happy to make it a tradition. It would be dishonest to say that I’m parodying anything that came before because I wrote this before I wrote it. That early iteration Beautiful [written before Hereditary] the chandelier was crushing his head.
It should be fun to brainstorm weird ways for characters to die, but is something triggering this particular method? Was there any news about someone dying by the chandelier?
No. Looks like there’s someone who died the way Charlie died. hereditary, and I didn’t know about it. But there is something satisfying about coming with these. I shouldn’t say this after shaking my head at a real tragedy that I regret.
I understand what you mean. Played by Parker Posey, he plays Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby” when Beau finally has sex with the woman he’s been waiting for since he was little. Was that song scripted?
Yes, there was never any other option. There wouldn’t be “Always Be My Baby” if there was another option because it was expensive. But once Mariah approves, we can’t even think of doing anything else. What I expected was that he didn’t give it to us, and I think it’s great that he did. I love it forever for giving us consent to use it.
This is a great choice. Everything about the way it’s played is incredible. Have you or someone involved in the production explained to him the context of how this will be used?
No, we sent him the crime scene. He knew what he was confirming. I think this is great.
It must have been difficult for Parker and Joaquin to keep their faces straight in that scene. How was the shooting?
Those scenes are hard to shoot. The players are out in the open. That’s very brave. You just want to make sure there isn’t anyone on set who doesn’t need to be, and that you get what you need and are on your way. It’s not fun to shoot them. They’re so weird. I mean, they’re weird to me because I really want to make sure everyone is comfortable. I think what Parker did in that scene is pretty amazing and pretty brave, and I love him for doing it.
You quoted modern romance as an effect on midsommarso i have to assume defend your lifeAs you were thinking about taking Beau’s life to court at the end of this movie, another Albert Brooks movie came to mind.
It’s funny – it didn’t occur to me until I went into pre-production that this was something I had to draw, because this is one of my favorite movies ever made. I love defend your life this much. What I was thinking, to be honest, was the end. matter of life and death, the Powell and Pressburger movie. Even with the shape of the stadium, I don’t get it matter of life and death it slipped my mind. But as we were getting ready to shoot it, I think someone said it got them thinking. defend your life. I definitely see this.
How did you land on the image of the exploding boat as the last thing we saw?
It really occurred to me when I was writing the scene. I remember writing it on a feverish day of writing, and I remember that feeling. I really don’t know where it came from. I just remember it hitting me and it was clear it was him. It always had to end with a ejaculation, you know?
Does the penis monster have a name?
We call it Nose.
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