Beau Is Afraid failed to become a crossover hit like director Ari Aster’s previous films (Hereditary and Midsommar), and while Aster seems to have always known that that was a possibility—given… everything about Beau Is Afraid—he did note in a recent chat with Vanity Fair that he wishes more people had seen the movie, if only so they could argue about it with other people and decide for themselves how much they hated it. But on top of that, he also wishes more people had seen it and liked it because there are “things in that film in the background” that “tell a whole other story” and he doesn’t think anyone had really caught on.
That, at least, seems solvable, especially with Vanity Fair nothing that the psychosexual nightmare comedy has “found new champions” since coming out digitally. In terms of teases, Aster notes that, in the early sequence on the cruise ship with young Beau, the background of “every scene” had “something” that “might spark an idea.” He says it’s “frustrating” to put in the effort to do stuff like that, wondering who will catch on, only to have the movie receive what he calls (elsewhere in the interview) a “stunted” release.
As for that stunted release, there’s some interesting stuff in the piece where Aster seems to be reckoning with getting the opportunity to make the exact kind of movie he wanted to make (with a runtime and budget earned by his previous A24 hits) and then watching as that movie is met with resounding disinterest from most moviegoers. “When you’re making a film like that,” he notes, “You’re very excited by the idea of dividing people, but then it comes out and it divides people, and then you realize, ‘Oh, wait a minute. This is also functioning as a deterrent for people to even go see it.’”
He says he’ll “fantasize” about a possibly hypothetical time in history when a movie like Beau Is Afraid would get divisive buzz, and that “would’ve made people excited to go to the theater,” but now they’ll hear it’s divisive and say, “Oh, the response is all over the board, so I’m not going to bother.” But, he says, he hopes people “keep finding it.”
Aster also briefly touches on what he’s doing next, and while he won’t give any real details, he does say that it’ll feature Beau Is Afraid’s Joaquin Phoenix. He says making this movie was “one of the most invigorating experiences” he’s ever had making anything, and he’s “really, really thrilled” to be doing it again. So, you know, whatever that ends up looking like, maybe go see it before you decide whether it seems too weird.