Cannes 2025: Ari Aster wrote ‘Eddington’ in “a state of fear and anxiety about the world”
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(Credit: A24)
Debuting his psychological thriller Eddington at Cannes Festival, filmmaker Ari Aster explained how the movie came from his “fear and anxiety about the world”.
The Beau Is Afraid director explained that he wrote the script for the film “in a state of fear and anxiety about the world. I wanted to try and pull back and describe what it feels like to live in a world where nobody can agree on what is real anymore.”
He continued reflecting on the current sociopolitical climate: “I feel like over the last 20 years we’ve fallen into this age of hyper-individualism. That social force that used to be central in liberal mass democracies, which is an agreed upon version of the word, is gone now.”
His new movie is set during the COVID pandemic, and sees the conspiracy theories that ran rampant at the time take a dominant role in the story. Aster explained this choice: “COVID felt like the moment where that link was finally cut for good. and i wanted to make a film about what America feels like to me, and at that tine, and it felt bad. It feels bad. and I’m very worried.”
When asked what Aster wishes people would take away from the movie, he didn’t have a clear answer. He mused: “I don’t know, I think we need to re-engage with each other. That, I think, is central for me.”
The synopsis for Eddington, per A24, reads: “In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.”
Eddington’s cast also includes Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Michael Ward, Amélie Hoeferle, Clifton Collins Jr and William Belleau.
The highly anticipated movie is set to arrive in theatres on July 18th.
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