Writer/director Ari Aster certainly seems to gravitate towards films of a longer nature; Aster's first film, HEREDITARY, came in at 2 hours and 7 minutes, with his follow-up, MIDSOMMAR, clocking in at 2 hours and 28 minutes. The extended cut of MIDSOMMAR bumped up that time to 2 hours and 51 minutes, and it seems that Aster's next film could be shaping up to be even longer.
Ari Aster spoke with UC Santa Barbara students in an interview with the Associated Students Program Board last week, and teased that he's currently working on a "nightmare comedy" and just finished a new draft. Aster wouldn't provide any other details on the project, only to say that, "All I know is that it's gonna be four hours long." It's hard to tell just how serious Aster is regarding that length, but he's certainly shown a predilection towards longer movies so I wouldn't put it past him. As someone who greatly enjoyed HEREDITARY and MIDSOMMAR, I'm down for whatever else Ari Aster wants to give us, no matter the length.
Ari Aster was also asked what inspired him to begin filmmaking in the first place; "Movies," Aster responded. "Loving movies … I’ve always been obsessed with movies and then at a certain point I just wanted to make them. I guess the urge on some level is to have a dialogue with your heroes. You grow up, you love so many films, you love so many filmmakers that you kinda want to engage as deep of a level as you can."