Beau Is Afraid: A24 unveils a poster for Ari Aster / Joaquin Phoenix nightmare comedy

We haven’t heard much about the A24 film Beau Is Afraid, the latest movie from Hereditary (watch it HERE) and Midsommar (watch that HERE) writer/director Ari Aster. When Aster was gearing up to work on it, he said it would be a “nightmare comedy” that’s “four hours long”. Joker Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix signed on to star in the film back in November of 2020, and production wrapped in October of 2021. A24 has never announced a release date for the film, but Beau Is Afraid is expected to reach theatres sometime in 2023. And A24 just revved up the marketing machine by unveiling the first poster for the film. You can take a look at it at the bottom of this article.

We’ve previously heard that Beau Is Afraid is a feature expansion of Aster’s 2011 short film Beau. We’ve also heard it described as being “a surrealist horror film set in an alternate present”, although Aster seems to disagree with the horror label. Thus the “nightmare comedy” description. The story supposedly goes like this: An anxious man learns of the death of his mother under mysterious circumstances and upon traveling home makes an alarming discovery about his past. During his journey, he runs into various crazy supernatural threats.

According to Discussing Film, those threats could be “some of the craziest ideas that Ari Aster has ever came up with”. They also heard that Beau himself is “an extremely anxious but pleasant-looking man who has a fraught relationship with his overbearing mother. Their relationship is affected by the fact that he never knew his father.”

Phoenix is joined in the cast by Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, and Parker Posey.

So we really know next to nothing about Beau Is Afraid, but judging by the poster it looks like we can expect the movie to be rather odd. Since it’s being sold with a painting that shows Phoenix’s character as a child.

What did you think of Ari Aster’s previous movies? After watching Hereditary and Midsommar, are you looking forward to seeing what he and Phoenix have put together for Beau Is Afraid? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

Here’s the poster art: