Eddington: Emma Stone may be joining Joaquin Phoenix in Ari Aster’s next film

Even before Hereditary and Midsommar director Ari Aster’s most recent film, Beau Is Afraid, was released back in April, there were rumblings that his next project would be a “western noir dark comedy” called Eddington. This is a project Aster would be circling back to, because at one time he thought Eddington was going to be his first feature. Now it looks pretty certain to be his fourth, with Beau Is Afraid star Joaquin Phoenix returning to work with him again. According to World of Reel, Phoenix might be joined in the cast by Emma Stone, fresh off of Poor Things.

In addition to the Emma Stone casting rumor, World of Reel hears that Eddington will tell a story that centers on a couple (Lindsay and Marc) driving through New Mexico, on their way to Los Angeles, who run out of gas just outside of small town Eddington, New Mexico. Lindsay and Marc decide to enter the town for help. They are, at first, greeted very warmly, but, as nightfall comes, the picturesque setting soon turns into a nightmare.

Eddington is said to be a copper mining town, and apparently part of the story involves “a Sheriff and a Mayor who are at odds with each other”. Phoenix’s character isn’t Marc, so he could be playing either the Sheriff or the Mayor. Another rumor indicates that Pedro Pascal has been offered a role in the film – and if he accepts the offer, he wouldn’t be playing Marc, either.

Aster had been planning to head into production on Eddington at the end of summer 2023, but the Hollywood strikes have pushed the start of production back into early 2024.

The filmmaker first mentioned Eddington years ago, during an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit. He said, “There was a period of time when I thought Midsommar would be the debut feature, and there was a period when I thought another script called Eddington might be the first movie. For like five years, I was trying to get that Western-noir dark ensemble comedy going. That won’t be the next one, by the way, though I do still want to make it very badly. I made Hereditary first, but I always had Midsommar in my back pocket, like it was right there in me.” He added, “(Eddington is) sort of a – I don’t know if you’d call it a revisionist western. It’s contemporary; one foot is in the western and one foot is even more heavily in the noir genre. So it’s like a film noir ensemble western dark comedy.“

How does Eddington sound to you? Would you like to see Emma Stone star in this Ari Aster movie with Joaquin Phoenix (and possibly Pedro Pascal)? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.