Ari Aster Thanks A24 for Being ‘Stupid Enough’ to Let Him Make ‘Beau Is Afraid’

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, the adapted from of the same name. Fremon Craig's name is not on the billboard, but the billboard—and the movie—exists because of her. For nearly 50 years, after Blume's 1970 story about a young girl's honest and relatable journey through adolescence and puberty became a beloved classic, the 84-year-old icon (and ) turned down offers to adapt Margaret. It was too personal, too important for anyone to get other than absolutely right.

We’ve known, for a while now, that Martin Scorsese is a big fan of Ari Aster. Several years ago, the legendary director raved about Aster’s second film, “Midsommar.” Now, as Aster receives some of the harshest critiques of his relatively young career, thanks to his third film, “Beau is Afraid,” Scorsese is there to back him up, yet again.  READ MORE: ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Review: Joaquin Phoenix Guides Ari Aster’s Hilarious, Horrific, Despairing Nightmare, Hellish Mom Comedy During a Q&A alongside Ari Aster (via A24), Martin Scorsese talks about the young filmmaker’s career, up to this point, and how he believes Aster is one of the best directors working today.

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" director James Mangold said this week that the fifth installment of the franchise opens with a 25-minute action sequence in which Harrison Ford, 80, plays a 35-year-old version of himself.  "I just shot him, and he just pretended that he was 35," Mangold told Total Film magazine of Ford who he called "incredibly gifted and agile." He added, "But the technology involved is a whole other thing."  Mangold explained that dots were placed on Ford’s face during the scene that takes place in 1944 and using VFX technology and old Lucasfilm footage of the actor as a younger man, he was de-aged.  The new film is set in the space race-era of 1969.  "We had hundreds of hours of footage of him in close-ups, in mediums, in wides, in every kind of lighting, night and day," he told the magazine. "I could shoot Harrison on a Monday as, you know, a 79-year-old playing a 35-year-old, and I could see dailies by Wednesday with his head already replaced." The director called the technology "incredible," saying he did not think about it while shooting the sequence.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points for “Beau Is Afraid,” currently playing in theaters. In the final act of Ari Aster’s three-hour anxiety trip “Beau Is Afraid,” Beau, played by Joaquin Phoenix, arrives very late for his mother’s funeral and finds himself reunited with his childhood love Elaine, played by Parker Posey. It’s an awkward reunion for the two, but the two wind up in bed together. Just as they are about to have sex, Elaine pulls out her phone and the intro to Mariah Carey’s 1995 hit “Always Be My Baby” begins to play. Speaking over Zoom, the film’s music supervisor Jemma Burns said Aster told her during their first meeting, “’If there’s one thing you do for me on this film, I have to have this Mariah Carey song.’”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” director James Mangold confirmed in a new interview with Total Film magazine that Harrison Ford spends approximately 25 minutes of the sequel de-aged to appear around the age he was in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The “Dial of Destiny” team previously disclosed that new VFX technology was created for the film in order to de-age Ford, but now fans know it was for an extended act of the movie and not just a simple flashback scene. Mangold called Ford “incredibly gifted and agile,” which made it easy for the actor to “pretend that he was 35” when filming the scenes. “But the technology involved is a whole other thing,” Mangold said. “We had hundreds of hours of footage of him in close-ups, in mediums, in wides, in every kind of lighting, night and day. I could shoot Harrison on a Monday as, you know, a 79-year-old playing a 35-year-old, and I could see dailies by Wednesday with his head already replaced,”

Alec Baldwin made sure to thank fans for the support as “Rust” continued filming in Bozeman, Montana.

After posting giant per screen numbers at four theaters last weekend, A24’s Beau Is Afraid  jumps to 926 for the distributor’s third outing with Ari Aster. It’s a very different film from his horror favorites Hereditary and Midsommar but one the distributor hopes will cement the director’s place as a modern auteur.

Ari Aster has made a career out of the horror and twisted comedy of anxiety. Regardless of where each individual audience member is in their life or the experiences they’ve had, this is what makes films such as “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” universally loved and relatable.

Ari Aster‘s “Beau Is Afraid” isn’t even in theaters yet, but the “Midsommar” and “Hereditary” already has his fourth film lined up. World Of Reel has the scoop: Aster will start shooting his next movie, “Eddington,” this summer, with Joaquin Phoenix set to lead its ensemble cast.

Tommy Mallet has opened up on how he and fiancée Georgia Kousoulou are doing after sadly suffering from a miscarriage.The TOWIE stars, who were pregnant with their second child together, announced their sad news a few days earlier with a heartbreaking Instagram post, but struggled to share any more on how the family were coping at first. At the time, they explained to fans they had "no words right now" as they faced the magnitude of what had happened.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Betty Gilpin turned to her actor dad, Jack Gilpin, for help when she was preparing for her new Peacock series “Mrs. Davis.” “He introduced me to three nuns,” Betty told me at the show’s premiere Thursday night in Los Angeles. Papa Gilpin is not only a veteran actor (he currently plays Church the Butler on HBO’s “The Gilded Age“), but he’s also an Episcopalian priest. “He did connect me with nuns to talk to,” Betty said. “They are these incredible feminist warriors in their own right.” Have the sisters seen the show? “I’d be interested to know what they think about it, but I don’t think they have Peacock,” Betty said, laughing.

Filmmaker Ari Aster has oedipal issues. The artist has deeply complicated and unresolved issues with his mother that go back to his earliest movies (to this day, Aster won’t really talk about his mother in the press and has hinted at a troubled, rocky relationship).

Mariah Carey was one of the celeb guests who stepped out to support the new A24 movie Beau Is Afraid at the L.A. premiere!

Joaquin Phoenix and director Ari Aster have brought their new film Beau Is Afraid to L.A.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Poor Beau. Nearly half a century on Earth, and he’s never really lived. Sure, he was born — that much director Ari Aster depicts from Beau’s point of view at the outset of his wildly self-indulgent and frequently surreal third feature, “Beau Is Afraid,” lingering long enough to witness the infant’s umbilical cord being snipped — but what has Beau done with his life since then? Can it be said that he ever really developed an identity apart from his successful single mom, Mona Wasserman, who haunts the film for the better part of three hours before finally revealing herself? Not since “Psycho” has an off-screen mother loomed so large over a film’s protagonist, played here by Joaquin Phoenix, cowering from the world. The Hitchcock comparison could be misleading, since Aster (who helmed indie studio A24’s two most successful horror movies, “Hereditary” and “Midsommar”) makes a surprising tonal shift away from traditional nightmare material for this deranged road trip, which follows Beau cross-country — and through several substitute families — to face his intimidating Jewish mom.

At a surprise New York City screening, or rather unveiling, of Beau Is Afraid a few days ago, the Q&A moderator, actress Emma Stone, reportedly began by asking writer-director Ari Aster, “Are you okay, Ari?”

Joaquin Phoenix kept a low profile at a screening for his highly anticipated new movie Beau Is Afraid.

Katy Perry was criticized for being "condescending" and "rude" to the "American Idol" contestants amid fallout over a joke labeled as "mom-shaming." Perry, 38, called out two contestants who struggled to connect during the duet round of Hollywood Week.The pop star commented that the performance given by Carina DeAngelo, 25, and Nutsa Buzaladze, 25, was "underwhelming." "I just think the energy was broken between both of you, and so I think you couldn’t give each other the energy you both needed.That you both deserved," Perry said. "I think you’re both better than that performance." Fans didn't react well to Perry's handling of the situation so quickly after the "California Girls" singer was accused of "mom-shaming" contestant Sara Beth Liebe.The 25-year-old mom abruptly quit "American Idol" during Sunday's show, although she has since claimed that it didn't have anything to do with Perry's comment.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor The Los Angeles LGBT Center is organizing a rally on Easter Sunday, April 9, in Los Angeles to protest anti-LGBTQ legislation. Billed as Drag March LA, the event kicks off at 11 a.m. PT at West Hollywood Park. “The center’s Drag March is a nod to the origins of the LGBTQ+ movement, when the very first demonstrations started in opposition to moral policing and anti-crossdressing laws designed to impose a singular ideal of gender and sexuality onto citizens,” center CEO Joe Hollendonor said in statement Wednesday. “It is no mistake that today’s ‘Drag Bans’ are accompanied by a sweeping movement to ban access to gender-affirming care; we are fighting for our right to privacy, bodily autonomy, self-determination, and freedom of expression.” 

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Seth Rogen hopes Hollywood will redeem itself with Universal Pictures’ new animated “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” Rogen, who voices Donkey Kong in the adaptation of the popular video game series, tells Variety at the film’s premiere, “When I was 11, I saw the original ‘Mario Bros.’ movie and I was so excited. But it’s one of the worst films ever made. I was so disappointed. I think it made me realize that movies, like, could be bad. That never occurred to me until that moment. “It really bummed me out,” he continues. “It’s nice to vindicate that moment. It’s nice to know that 11-year-olds out there that they won’t be disappointed in the same way that I was.”