The ‘Hereditary’ director Ari Aster’s father advised him to stop screenwriting and focus on direction after his film ‘Beau Is Afraid’ underperformed at the box office in 2023, reported Variety. During a recent appearance on the ‘WTF with Marc Maron’ podcast, as quoted by Variety, Aster said his father suggested he stick to directing only after his 2023 film ‘Beau Is Afraid’ underperformed at the box office. “When ‘Beau Is Afraid’ flopped, my dad did tell me, ‘Uh, maybe you shouldn’t write the next one. He might’ve been right,” said Aster as quoted by Variety.
Despite the advice, Aster wrote his follow-up feature, ‘Eddington,’ which is currently in theatres. A24 and Aster are hoping for a win from the small-town dramedy starring Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal after “Beau” grossed 12 million USD worldwide against a 35 million USD budget.
Aster said he was “pretty sad” about the poor critical and commercial reception of “Beau,” but added that a few stray messages of support helped him deal with the disappointment. “I was pretty sad that it was, like, so maligned. There are a lot of people who reached out to tell me that they loved it…that helped, but yeah, no, it was a bummer because it was a huge, you know, it lost money, and critically, I wouldn’t say it was, like, reviled, but it was definitely, like, there was no consensus whatsoever,” said Aster as quoted by Variety.
He continued, “All these things you take away after you release a film, and you’re like, ‘OK, it’s out of my hands now, I can’t really avoid people’s reactions, responses.’ It’s like, you know, you kind of learn something…No matter what the response, you’re proud of for sticking with [your choice], and then certain things where you’re like, ‘Eh, I’m not sure if it was worth losing that much of the audience for that decision.’ I think I ejected a number of people from the theatre. I could’ve used them.”
Aster’s latest feature is Eddington. It stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Luke Grimer, Austin Butler, Emma Stone and others.
The film was screened in Cannes, followed by a recent theatrical release.
(With Inputs from ANI)
