About a month ago, A24 released the very first poster for Midsommar director Ari Aster’s next film, Beau is Afraid. We looked upon it and saw that it was deeply weird. Featuring what appeared to be a digital version of a very young Joaquin Phoenix (the film’s star), it told us virtually nothing about Aster’s film while inspiring any number of interpretations from those who stopped to gawk at it.
Well, today brings us another Beau is Afraid poster, and before embedding it below I must warn you: the Joaquin Phoenixes are multiplying.
As you can see, there are now four Joaquin Phoenixes on the Beau is Afraid poster. Each one seems to represent the titular Beau at a different age – childhood, early adulthood, middle age, and very old – and now we’ve got a mysterious new tagline to consider. It’s down there at the bottom of the poster: “FROM HIS DARKEST FEARS COMES THE GREATEST ADVENTURE.” Curiouser and curiouser!
As previously reported, Beau is Afraid may or may not be an expansion of Aster’s 2011 short, Beau, which revolved around the trials and tribulations of a man trying to leave his apartment, repeatedly failing, and being driven to madness as a result. In addition to star Joaquin Phoenix, Beau is Afraid also stars Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson (always a pleasure when that dude shows up), Michael Gandolfini, and Zoe Lister Jones.
The A24 Instagram account (which debuted the poster above earlier this morning) says that Beau is Afraid‘s first trailer will arrive next Tuesday. In all likelihood, we’ll have a much better handle on what this movie is once that lands. Stay tuned for further updates (and that trailer!) as they roll in.
