The actor stars in Ari Aster’s upcoming horror-comedy.
It was revealed at a screening of Beau is Afraid this weekend that star Joaquin Phoenix fainted on set of the upcoming flick.
Ari Aster, who directed horrors such as Hereditary and Midsommar, attended the screening alongside Phoenix and surprise moderator Emma Stone. Due to it being April Fool’s, the event was billed as a director’s cut of Midsommar, with it actually turning out to be the first screening of the upcoming film.
Beau is Afraid centres around an anxiety-ridden man who embarks on a surreal odyssey home after his mother suddenly dies, confronting his greatest fears along the way. Astor described the mental and physical demands of the starring role, which had Phoenix’s character get stabbed, shot at and hit by a car.
“At the end of the film, it was the last week, and he was working with Patti [LuPone], and there was a scene that was very intense for Patti, and it was a shot that was on Patti, not on him. All the sudden, he fell out of frame, and I was really pissed because it was a really good take,” Aster recalled.
“It felt confusing, so I went around the corner to the monitor, and he was collapsed. He fainted. And I knew that it was bad because he was letting people touch him. People were tending to him, and he was allowing it, and he was very confused. He fainted in somebody else’s take. The shot was for them, not for him, he was helping them. He was in it for them, to the point where he collapsed. It’s very poetic that he collapsed on somebody else’s shot.”
“Every dangerous thing Beau does, Joaquin did,” Aster said. “The thing that’s surprising about him. I was thinking he’d be able to do everything once and then not repeat it, but he’s so technical, and part of what was amazing is the fact that he has to feel his way through everything, and everything has to feel honest.”
The film also includes a supporting ensemble cast that includes Nathan Lane, LuPone, Amy Ryan, Kylie Rogers, Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Hayley Squires, Michael Gandolfini, Zoe Lister-Jones, and Richard Kind.
Beau is Afraid releases on April 21 in the US, with an Irish release date yet to be announced.
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