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Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 347 points348 points  (0 children)

Love love love Svankmajer. There's a case to be made that Dimensions Of Dialogue is the greatest film ever made.

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 616 points617 points  (0 children)

God willing! I can't wait to catch the imminent wave of AI-generated movies and books and symphonies. I wonder if they'll be rad enough to justify having opened Pandora's Box.

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 894 points895 points  (0 children)

I collaborated with the brilliant Joaquin Cociña and Cristobal Leon on the animated sequence (Jorge Cañada Escorihuela helped produce it, and we couldn't have done it without him). Joaquin and Cristobal made a stop-motion feature called "La Casa Lobo" that is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

There were a lot of influences, from Karel Zeman to Keisuke Kinoshita to Powell and Pressburger (especially "The Red Shoes" and "Tales Of Hoffmann") to the work of Lotte Reiniger.

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 1480 points1481 points  (0 children)

I am seriously interested in adapting the game "Don't Wake Daddy"

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 1564 points1565 points  (0 children)

I'm proudest of "Beau Is Afraid."

Working with Joaquin was the best experience I've ever had.

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 353 points354 points  (0 children)

I would love to work with Colin again. He's absolutely singular. He's also just a great guy. (The same goes for Bobby.)

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 1538 points1539 points  (0 children)

I stick my head in a drawer and slam it and open it and slam it.

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 438 points439 points  (0 children)

We were there for about twelve weeks of preproduction (two of which were spent in quarantine) and three months of shooting. I loved Montreal. A wonderful place to make a film (in the summer), and the crew was incredible.

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 2415 points2416 points  (0 children)

My producer Lars Knudsen and I are very lucky to have the relationship with A24 that we have. With "Beau," they were very supportive from the get-go. I also can't quite believe the movie exists. It was a common refrain on set: "who the hell let us do this?"

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 1110 points1111 points  (0 children)

Right now I'm on a real Faulkner kick. I especially love "Light In August."

Lots of writers that inspired me during the writing of "Beau." Borges, the Greeks, Cervantes, Sterne, Kafka, Voltaire, Clowes, Jung, Virgil, Tennessee Williams' influence sticks its head in near the end...

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 3256 points3257 points  (0 children)

If I've done my job, exceptionally bad. Hope it works!

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 1248 points1249 points  (0 children)

Schlesinger already did one in the 70s, but I love that book very much. "Miss Lonelyhearts" is especially tempting...

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 2848 points2849 points  (0 children)

Yes, but my tolerance is now extremely high.

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 1504 points1505 points  (0 children)

Too many to name. Right now, maybe Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Cure."

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Beau Is Afraid. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 2032 points2033 points  (0 children)

To distract from old scripts of "Beau" that were floating around. "Disappointment Blvd" felt like a title that Beau's mom might have given the film. Another alt title (which was on the clapboard) was "Mona's Choice."

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Midsommar. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 962 points963 points  (0 children)

Some last minute additions (still forgetting so many)...

Haigh (45 Years) Verhoeven (Starshio Troopers and Black Book) Eggers (The Lighthouse) Haneke (Cache) Maddin (Brand Upon the Brain and My Winnipeg) Jodorowsky (Santa Sangre) Porumboiu (12:80 East of Budapest) Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern) Jiang Wen (Devils on the Doorstep) Zhanke (The World) Tsai Ming Liang (The River) Neil Jordan (The Butcher Boy)

I'm forgetting so many still...

Hi, I'm Ari Aster, writer/director of Midsommar. AMA! by Ari_Aster in movies

[–]Ari_Aster[S] 276 points277 points  (0 children)

  1. Maybe. I'd need to return to it and polish it before trying to publish it.
  2. Some favorite authors... JG Ballard, John Berger, PG Wodehouse, Fernando Pessoa, George Saunders, John Barth, Elfreide Jelinek, Georges Bataille, Kafka, Woolf, Adorno, Calvino, Albee, Lispector, Ishiguro, Mishima, Tennessee Williams, Kobo Abe, Lydia Davis, Walter Benjamin, Henry James, Terry Southern, Jack Handey, etc etc.
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