A24 has released a new behind-the-scenes featurette for Beau Is Afraid, the highly-anticipated new movie from horror darling Ari Aster. Beau Is Afraid promises to lead audiences into a psychedelic journey from birth to death, with Joaquin Phoenix playing different-aged versions of the main character.

In the new featurette, Aster says, “I’ve been thinking about this movie for, like, ten years. There’s a part of me that can’t believe we’re making this film.” While we still don’t know much about Beau Is Afraid plot, Aster released a short film called Beau in 2011, about a man who’s too afraid to leave his apartment and who keeps constant telephonic contact with his mother. Beau Is Afraid seems to be somehow connected to this early short film, as the plot revolves around Phoenix’s character trying to reach his mom’s house and experiencing all sorts of wacky stuff along the way. As Aster puts it, “It’s like a Jewish Lord of the Rings, but he’s just going to his mom’s house.”

While Aster is mainly known for horror gems Midsommar and Hereditary, the director used the bizarre to make several comedic shorts before his feature directorial debut. As such, we don’t know exactly what to expect from Beau Is Afraid. Aster promises the movie is “Epic. Jumbo. Every detail has a detail inside of it.” The filmmaker also reveals he wanted “to make a film where you feel you’ve been through a life, or even through a person.” However, we can’t say for sure what new nightmares might be waiting for us once Beau Is Afraid hits theaters.

Image via A24

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The new featurette also offers some new footage from Beau Is Afraid, which will apparently play with different genres and languages to tell its weird story. For instance, in one moment, Phoenix is on the stage of a play, while in the next one, he’s being hit by an animated sea wave. Whatever Aster has in store for us, we’re sold.

Who Is Involved with Beau Is Afraid?
Beau Is Afraid star-studded cast includes Broadway legends Nathan Lane (Only Murders in the Building) and Pattie LuPone (American Horror Story), Amy Ryan (The Office), Kylie Rogers (Home Before Dark), Parker Posey (Lost in Space), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Dune), Denis Ménochet (The French Dispatch), Hayley Squires (In the Earth), Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of Newark), and Zoe Lister-Jones (director of The Craft: Legacy).

Beau Is Afraid comes to theaters on April 21, 2023. Check out the featurette and the movie’s synopsis below:

A paranoid man embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved new film from writer/director Ari Aster.