Joaquin Phoenix Headed To New Mexico To Find His ‘Eddington' Character
When Joaquin Phoenix set out to play the small-town New Mexico mayor Joe Cross in Eddington , he didn't expect to be heading to the film's location for inspiration.
"Honestly, it was an act of desperation," he tells me as we chat over Zoom. "I'd love to say that there was some great method or idea, but I was sitting here in my house in Los Angeles, holding the script, and saying, 'I need something tangible. How am I supposed to build the character? I have no idea. I need to be, and the landscape is important, and I need to be around people for whom this is their experience, or else I'm basing it off of reading."
So, without hesitation in August 2023, the Oscar-winning actor and Eddington 's writer-director, Ari Aster, headed to Albuquerque, Santa Fe County, and Truth or Consequences, to get a feel for the people and places. While those three places are very real, Eddington is a work of fiction.
"For me, it felt like it needed something more, and I think that was something that Ari had already been doing," the Joker actor explains. "He had been doing research in New Mexico, so I went with him, and we did ride-alongs with sheriffs and different police officers, and mayors, and it was absolutely vital. For me, I'm the kind of actor who wants to be able to touch something. I want to feel the environment."
"Everyone was great and receptive, and kind of like the cliche of a small town in which everyone was friendly, and they didn't care. In the first five minutes, you took some pictures, and then all that celebrity attention went away, and we were able to spend time with them and ask anything. I found everybody to be open, receptive, not guarded and judgmental, but curious."
Aster, known for acclaimed films such as Hereditary and Midsommar , describes Eddington as a "western-noir dark comedy ensemble piece set in a fictional copper mining town in contemporary New Mexico during the Covid-19 pandemic." Phoenix plays the town sheriff and a mayoral candidate running against Pedro Pascal's Ted Garcia, Eddington's incumbent mayor, who is running for reelection. Eddington lands in theaters on Friday, July 18, 2025.
Students of cinema, both Aster, who is from New Mexico, and Phoenix, draw inspiration from a range of films and other art. Perhaps surprisingly, action movies from the 1980s, starring the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris, play a significant role in Eddington 's explosive finale.
"I didn't make any conscious or considered effort to study any of those films, but I was born in '74, and I grew up with all of those images of those actors and iconic films. They're part of me. It's a part of my experience," Phoenix confirms. "I understood the humor of kicking open a door with me holding a massive machine gun and spraying the town. That was a part of me and Ari. I'm sure Ari had a more specific intention there, but it was nothing we discussed. There was no particular film that we talked about or looked at in terms of how I approached those moments." Forbes John Leguizamo And Anna Chlumsky On 'Smoke' And Her Hard No To 'My Girl 3' By Simon Thompson
Eddington reunites Phoenix, known for standout performances in Walk the Line , Gladiator , The Master , Her , and C'mon C'mon , with Aster, who previously worked together on Beau is Afraid . He's one of only a handful of filmmakers that the actor has worked with more than once. So what is it about Aster that sets him apart?
"There are probably several things, and maybe there's the professional side, but what I look for is a director who does something that no one else can do, and they have a very unique vision. Ari certainly has that," Phoenix shares. "There is nobody like him. Part of the personal side of it is that we want someone with whom we understand each other and can spend a lot of time together. Sometimes you're spending months with somebody. I like Ari as a person. I enjoy talking to him. I enjoy his observations and I like his humor."
(Left to right) Writer, director, and producer Ari Aster and Joaquin Phoenix at the LA Premiere of ... More 'Eddington' at DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles, California. A24 via Getty Images
How does Aster challenge an actor with such a diverse and celebrated catalog of work that netted him four Oscar nominations and one win?
"I love the question, I know he does, but it's tough to articulate," he muses. "Sometimes with the director and actors, the director needs to be sensitive to what's going on with the actor, and to sense whether there's something more or a different approach than the actor might have. Sometimes it's to ensure that you've fully explored every possibility of the moment. Sometimes it's more direct than that, and very simply, for instance, you will know that in certain scenarios you need an insert shot. You need to make sure that the actor looks at their phone so that you can cut to it."
"Often, when there are more meaty scenes, in some ways, part of what I want is somebody that can help me to ensure that I'm fully exploring all the possibilities for that scene, and isn't going to be comfortable with just settling on the first thing that comes to mind or what comes easily. Ari has like an obsession, and hopefully I do too, with doing that, and I think that hopefully we challenge each other to go deeper."
(Left to right) Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix pose during a photocall for the film 'Eddington' at ... More the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. AFP via Getty Images There Are Two Big Reasons Why You Should Watch 'Eddington' In Theaters
At a time when independent films need audience support at the box office more than ever, Phoenix implores people to experience Eddington in theaters. However, good box office is not the only reason.
"It's vital, and I think that's true for most films, but with this film in particular," he concludes. "It's so much about this shared experience that we all went through, and yet we all went through it often glued to our own, individual screens, getting our version of events and of reality. There's something that feels corrective and right about going through this experience and watching this film as a collective, and to hear and feel the reaction of those around us, and hopefully people that have different political or philosophical leanings."
"I think that's something really enjoyable about Eddington. There's something in which we can hopefully recognize a piece of ourselves in every character, and maybe laugh at ourselves a little bit, and forgive ourselves a little bit. Doing that in a collective experience feels important. There's something very fun about this film, and particularly the finale you mentioned, where you're in a room full of people, it's charged, it's electric, it's exciting, and it feels vital to have that experience versus sitting alone behind the screen."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
17 hours ago
- Forbes
Don't Miss This A24 Sleeper Before It Leaves Netflix This Week
Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars in the 2023 dramedy 'You Hurt My Feelings.' In a world filled with Dunes and Barbies and whatever the latest Christopher Nolan is, many movies are overshadowed—movies that don't scream to be noticed, that aren't backed by gargantuan budgets, that don't have the typical flash and pizzazz that begs us to notice. Heck, even A24, a respected and well-known studio, releases movies you've never heard of; movies that simply observe, quietly and patiently, how people talk to each other, how they misunderstand one another, how they bend the truth out of love or fear or habit. These movies can be hard to spot in the endless churn of the streaming carousel. And when you discover these secret movies, it's exhilarating—at least it is for me. And one of those secrets is leaving Netflix this week. You Hurt My Feelings, a deceptively simple yet profound and perceptive dramedy from A24, was released in 2023 to glowing reviews (the film currently sports 94% on Rotten Tomatoes from 218 reviews, making it one of the best-reviewed movies on Netflix) and a quiet run in theaters. Directed by Nicole Holofcener and starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus in one of her most layered performances, the film never got the splashy attention it deserved (it only grossed $5.7 million worldwide). But in many ways that's fitting, as Holofcener's work has always operated beneath the surface. Her camera is so incisive, always peeling back the veneers of polite conversation to reveal the messy, often contradictory emotions that drive us, that bewilder us. If you've never seen one of her films, now is the perfect time to dive in. But hurry—You Hurt My Feelings is leaving Netflix and your last day to watch it is July 25. The premise is almost comically minor—but, honestly, as someone who's exhausted with modern movies that feel the need to shove complicated pot and overwhelming exposition down my throat, I don't mind 'minor' at all. The story centers on a successful memoirist named Beth (Louis-Dreyfus), who is struggling to write a new book, especially after her agent requests multiple revisions to the latest draft. Things go from bad to worse after Beth overhears her husband, Don (Tobias Menzies), secretly tell his brother-in-law Mark (Arian Moayed) that he doesn't actually like her new book—despite the glowing review he's already given his wife. This shakes the leaves from Beth's trust and confidence in their marriage. Once Beth confronts Don, what follows isn't as explosive as you might expect it to be, but instead simmering and pulsating: arguments that begin in one room and trail into the next; awkward dinners that never get on the right track; therapy sessions laced with passive-aggression. It's not just about a single comment made by a spouse, but about everything such secrecy calls into question: Do we need our loved ones to like what we make? Is honesty always the best policy? And what happens when the support we rely on turns out to be built on a white lie? There are lots of reasons to watch You Hurt My Feelings, but the main attraction is the award-worthy acting on display. As Beth, Louis-Dreyfus is filled with surface confidence and performs her writerly role with ease—until the smallest crack appears and her sense of self begins to quietly unravel. This dynamic recalls her iconic roles in Seinfeld and Veep, as this small twist in her character brings with it a subtle physicality: she uses pauses, hesitations and half-finished sentences to capture a woman suddenly unsure of the ground beneath her. It's a performance built on restraint, allowing vulnerability to creep in slowly rather than overwhelm. As her husband Don, Menzies is equally (and refreshingly) as understated, matching Louis-Dreyfus note for note, never hogging the screen but building the tension of their temporarily in-limbo relationship. He plays Don with the worn-down warmth of a man who cares deeply about his wife and her feelings but is too emotionally exhausted to say the right thing at the right time. Menzies doesn't make Don overtly antagonistic; instead, he's thoughtful, distracted and often unaware of how much meaning his words carry. His portrayal suggests someone who's spent years learning how to say the supportive thing…without ever being quite sure if he means it. Together, Louis-Dreyfus and Menzies create a portrait of a couple that feels deeply lived-in, often (if not always) in a painfully familiar way. Their chemistry is quiet, based not on grand declarations but on familiarity: the way they interrupt each other, the way they sit in silence, the way one's insecurities leak into the other's reaction. You believe they've been together for decades, not because they're still in love in some cinematic way, but because they know each other too well to ever fully disconnect. Again, that aspect of the movie feels so familiar, so real—a rarity in modern film. That familiarity becomes the film's emotional engine, comforting and terrifying in equal measure. You Hurt My Feelings is the perfect addition to the cinematic world Holofcener has built for decades, a filmography that rarely feature plot twists or heightened drama. Instead, Holofcener excels at mining tension from everyday interactions—an offhand comment from a friend, a parent's misplaced advice, a partner's lack of attention. Holofcener's career has taken an interesting evolution over the years: earlier films like Walking and Talking (released in 1996) and Lovely & Amazing (2001) established her as a prominent voice in character-driven independent cinema, particularly stories about women navigating personal disappointments and social expectations; Friends with Money (2006) and Please Give (2010) tackled class anxiety and midlife malaise with humor and insight, (often starring Catherine Keener, a frequent collaborator); and Enough Said (2013) showed a newfound softness and romantic optimism that hadn't been as prominent in more acerbic work. The director's films often feel like novellas come to life—short, emotionally intricate and rooted in the rhythms of real conversation. What sets You Hurt My Feelings apart is that it turns those rhythms inward, focusing not on external dilemmas, but internal ruptures. It's a movie about perception: how we perceive ourselves, and how fragile that perception can be when challenged by the people we trust most. You Hurt My Feelings received strong critical acclaim upon its release, with a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes and numerous write-ups praising its precision and charm. Christy Lemire of praises the ever-satisfying writing of Holofcener, a writer/director who 'finds both humor and wisdom within the complexity of her cringe comedy, providing rich fodder for conversations afterward.' Meanwhile, Owen Gleiberman of Variety praises the film for remaining small, for allowing the story to hit home for anyone who relates to these incredibly lived-in characters ("it may just have a lesson for us all," he writes). And finally, Stephanie Zacharek of Time calls the film 'delightful,' writing that 'as a story about how New Yorkers get by, making marriages and family relationships work in one of the toughest cities of the world, it's both smart and entertaining.' Sitting at a brisk 93 minutes, You Hurt My Feelings is a rare kind of film: emotionally rich, effortlessly paced and surprisingly funny. It's perfect for a quiet night in, for anyone who's ever second-guessed their creative work or wondered if their loved ones are just humoring them. In a streaming landscape dominated by spectacle, this is a rare gem that earns its power through conversation and pause.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Devil Wears Prada 2' Starts Filming With Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci
Audiences should dust off their knowledge of cerulean: The Devil Wears Prada sequel is officially happening. The film is heading into production this week two decades after the beloved movie hit theaters, and is set to shoot in New York and Italy. Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci are on board for the follow-up film, which is adding Kenneth Branagh to the cast, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Fountain of Youth' Review: John Krasinski and Natalie Portman Play Squabbling Siblings on a Mission in Guy Ritchie's Ho-Hum Apple TV+ Actioner Kieran Culkin to Play Caesar in 'Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping' (Exclusive) John Krasinski Didn't Know Brother-in-Law Stanley Tucci Was His 'Fountain of Youth' Co-Star Until Midway Through Filming The 2006 film, based on the book of the same name, follows Andy (Hathaway), a recent college journalism graduate as she lands one of the most coveted jobs in publishing as the assistant to Anna Wintour stand-in Miranda Priestly (Streep). Andy dives into the world of magazines and high fashion thanks to her fellow assistant (Blunt). The film grossed a massive $326 million at the worldwide box office and earned Streep an Oscar nomination. As previously reported, the sequel will have Priestly, still the head of Runway, contending with the headwinds of publishing, with the magazine now in a diminished state. Blunt's onetime assistant will now be an executive at a luxury brand conglomerate that advertises with Runway. Branagh will be playing Priestly's husband, while Tucci will return as Nigel Kipling, who served as the art director of Runway in the first film. The new film was announced on social media, in a video featuring some of the film's more iconic lines. See the announcement of the Devil Wears Prada sequel below. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Solve the daily Crossword
Atlantic
21 hours ago
- Atlantic
When It Feels Good to Root for a Bad Guy
This article features spoilers for the ending of Eddington. The director Ari Aster specializes in bringing stress dreams to life: becoming plagued by a demonic curse, as seen in his debut film, Hereditary; joining an evil Scandinavian cult, in his follow-up, Midsommar; realizing a person's every fear, as occurs in the strange, picaresque Beau Is Afraid. But for his latest movie, Eddington, he turns to a more prosaic topic to get our blood running: the events of 2020. The film initially presents itself as a neo-Western, set in the small, fictional New Mexico town of Eddington at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. In true Aster form, the familiar portrait of that period—and the gnarly headspace it trapped many of us in—disintegrates into something disturbingly surreal. The film dramatizes this downward spiral through the experience of a man consumed by anxiety about how his community is shifting around him. Lockdown may have driven some people to question one another's reality; Eddington 's protagonist, however, seeks control of his—with violent and gory results. In interviews about his inspirations, Aster has invoked John Ford's masterpiece My Darling Clementine, a bittersweet retelling of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. But what I thought of more than anything while watching Eddington was Taxi Driver, a dark fable that's grounded in the point of view of a delusional maniac similarly defined by his paranoid, even conspiratorial, thinking. In the Martin Scorsese classic, Travis Bickle (played by Robert De Niro) lives out his fantasy of 'cleaning up' New York City by murdering a man who prostituted young girls in a brothel; the subsequent press coverage cements him as a folk hero, ending the film on a strange, bloodily triumphal note. The local sheriff in Eddington, Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), is the film's Bickle, though his final showdown is a far more absurd spectacle than the one in Taxi Driver. Aster's film is frightening, yes—but it's a dark and lacerating comedy first and foremost, playing out the power fantasies that fueled many an online conspiracy theory in the pandemic's early days (and still do now). And although Cross may not be as crushingly lonely as Bickle, he does share the character's escalating sense of paranoia. By plunging the viewer into this chaotic inner world, Aster illustrates the dissonant appeal of being enmeshed in the perspective of, and maybe even rooting for, an individual committed to their belief in justice—even if that commitment can border on sordid. Each of Aster's movies descends into chaos by its third act, but the bloodbath at the end of Eddington is particularly challenging because of what precedes it: a recognizable, if satirical, investigation of life under lockdown. As such, the film is much more concerned with modern society than the director's past work, contorting the anxiety and extreme politicization that arose during the early pandemic to fit into Aster's strange world. Embodying those feelings is Cross, a lonely sheriff who eventually stands up to shadowy, destructive forces. Eddington introduces its protagonist in much more mundane fashion, however. Cross serves the town of Eddington as a useless figure of authority—a shiftless, asthmatic grump who mumbles complaints at lawbreakers and halfheartedly manages a staff of cops at his office. When the film starts, he is struggling to uphold the state-mandated quarantine regulations, which he rarely follows himself. Eventually, the viewer learns that Cross has a personal connection to the position; his father-in-law once held it, and his tenure is still revered by both his family and his community. But Cross can hardly keep up with his job's basic tasks, let alone the kind of slick change represented by the person often challenging his control over Eddington: its mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal). Garcia, unlike Cross, is a friendly, tech-focused modernizer; he's backing the construction of a local data center that has proved divisive. Garcia and Cross's mutual disdain initially drives the film's tension: Garcia has some personal animosity with Cross that revolves around a rumored, long-ago dalliance withthe sheriff's wife, Louise (Emma Stone). Just as Garcia and Cross become fixated on each other, Louise develops an obsession with a seeming cult leader named Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler). Peak posts his elliptical wisdom in popular short-form videos that Louise affirms in the comments. Louise's mother, Dawn (Deirdre O'Connell), who lives with the Crosses, is similarly buying into questionable lines of thinking; she's constantly spouting misinformation about the origins of the pandemic, and parroting whatever else comes across her Facebook feed. Eddington makes plenty of satirical sport of all the characters, including a swath of overly sensitive teenage protesters. But the rageful engine driving Cross's actions is more disquieting than simple family or small-town drama. In the simplest read of what happens next, Cross becomes a local celebrity of sorts. After an altercation with Garcia at a supermarket, instigated when the sheriff supports a customer refusing to wear a mask—and similarly goes without one, pointing to how it affects his asthma—Cross announces his own mayoral run. He campaigns on a vague populist platform of throwing unhoused people out of town and resisting COVID restrictions, posting his progressively more inflammatory screeds to Facebook. The ramblings go viral, pushing Cross into further confrontations with Garcia. The sheriff's simmering anger, which reaches boiling point as a result of Eddington's growing air of claustrophobia and his own loosening grip on his life, leads to Cross assassinating Garcia. He kills Garcia's son too, and tries to cover up both murders by pinning the blame on a fellow cop. But as the sheriff's tangled web of lies begins to unravel—and his focus is diverted further away from the town—Eddington is besieged by frightening special-ops forces of unknown origin. The attack culminates in a bloody gun battle in the streets, and Cross barely survives; he emerges as a vigilante who has defended his community from, well, somebody. The film ends with Cross, now paralyzed and heavily medicated, functioning as the town's mayor. Unlike that of Taxi Driver 's Bickle, however, the sheriff's victory is a hollow one; his mother-in-law appears to have seized the real power behind the throne, rendering him more a puppet than an icon. This turn of events offers a perfectly grim button to Cross's ridiculous hallucinations of grandeur. But it's also a reminder from Aster that for all the thrilling gunplay of Eddington 's final act, there is no real happy ending awaiting Cross. Eddington does not aim to be a simple tale of heroism, and its events are so outlandish that they are hard to take at face value. The movie, in its fullest expression, is a feverish swirl of the charged opinions that drove so many conversations during the pandemic's height—be they from the right, the left, or all the way on the fringe. The shadowy characters invading Eddington could be interpreted as a fascist hit squad or an antifa battalion; on-screen, they simply represent the nonsensical extremes that our internet-addled brains are capable of reaching. The uncomfortable result is that Aster at times seems to be challenging the audience to root for Cross, despite laying out all his buffoonery very plainly—because even the most composed person may have found the limits of their patience tested at some point during those strange, dark days.
