Ari Aster Doesn't Want to Talk About 'Beau Is Afraid'

Ari Aster really doesn't want to talk about "Beau Is Afraid."

"This is so not the right thing," he anxiously laughed during a recent press day for his new film. "I shouldn't be talking about this movie for another 10 years."

But, alas, the insatiable publicity machine demands Aster feed it something now, undeterred by the director's protestations, as his three-hour epic of biblical proportions hits theaters on Friday (14 MARCH 2023).

"I wish I could just recede as far as possible and have the film just live on its own without any baggage that I'm inadvertently saddling onto it," he said, aware of the awkward position his reticence puts an interviewer in.

"I just want to throw up even hearing myself right now," he said sheepishly.

Aster's point is a sympathetic one. "Beau Is Afraid" really is one of those movies best seen with minimal prior knowledge of what you are walking into, aside from the fact that it is three hours of chaos, anxiety and terror.

The movie, a version of which Aster wrote shortly after graduating from the American Film Institute, is very clearly a personal project. And although "Beau Is Afraid" is his most labyrinthine feature to date, Aster maintains he ultimately wants people to enjoy it.

"I made something for an audience. I hope that it is exciting and fun and, you know, makes people feel things," he said, although he acknowledged that he is "prepared for people not knowing quite what to make of it."

Parker Posey, who stars in the film, praised it and Aster for its originality. "We're so used to being told what to think and what something is," she said.

"Beau Is Afraid" hits select theaters April 14, with a wider release April 20.