Joaquin Phoenix and his director Ari Aster in a good-humored interview about their shared fear odyssey in “Beau is Afraid”, actors as jerks, defeats and moments of happiness on the set.
Before you’re allowed in to see Joaquin Phoenix, you’re given a list of things not to say: Personal, of course, they all refuse to do that. But also the superhero social drama “Joker”, for which he won an Oscar. And: “Please keep any praise limited!” That can be cheerful, one thinks, but then the 48-year-old sits smoking on a small terrace of the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills – and is in a very good mood. Slightly creased linen shirt, dark sunglasses, chucks, his director Ari Aster is at his side. The two spread a carelessness that almost seems like the antithesis of their film “Beau is Afraid” – a grotesquely paranoid, three-hour fear odyssey.