Ari Aster is known for making family dramas turned, well, horrific, but the auteur recently experienced some family drama of his own. After Aster’s third film “Beau Is Afraid” was a box office flop, Aster’s father suggested that he solely direct instead.
“When ‘Beau Is Afraid’ flopped, my dad did tell me, ‘Uh, maybe you shouldn’t write the next one,’” Aster said during the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast. “He might’ve been right.”
However, the director did write his next film, “Eddington,” which is now in theaters. As for his mom, Aster added, “She’s very supportive. I think, you know, certain things she likes more than others … I’m lucky in that sense.”
“Beau Is Afraid” had an estimated budget of $35 million; the A24 film grossed only a third of that at the box office.
“I was pretty sad that it was, like, so maligned,” Aster said. “There are a lot of people who reached out to tell me that they loved it, and I really, that helped, but yeah, no, it was a bummer because it was a huge, you know, it lost money, and critically, I wouldn’t say it was, like, reviled, but it was definitely, like, there was no consensus whatsoever.”
He added, “All these things you take away after you release a film and you’re like, OK, it’s out of my hands now, I can’t really avoid people’s reactions, responses,” Aster said. “It’s like, you know, you kind of learn something … No matter what the response, you’re proud of for sticking with [decisions you made], and then certain things where you’re like, ‘Eh, I’m not sure if it was like worth losing that much of the audience for that decision.’ I think I ejected, like, a number of people from the theater. I could’ve used them.”
The “Midsommar” director previously told Vanity Fair that “Beau Is Afraid” had an “indifferent” audience which was “frustrating” to him. “When you make a film like this, it feels in some ways like you’re just pulling yourself inside out,” Aster said. “With this film especially as it came out, I felt very protective of it. I’ve said this before, but it’s absolutely my favorite of my own films and I think the furthest I’ve been able to go.”
Fellow “divisive” director John Waters later crowned “Beau Is Afraid” as the best film of 2023.
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