‘Eddington’ star Joaquin Phoenix, director Ari Aster talk about collaborating on COVID-themed dark comedy/Western

Ready for chosen drama We re about to talk politics on Deco Don t change the channel it s movie-related Deco s Alex Miranda who was voted majority likely to bring up his cat in every conversation by the Deco staff is here I was also voted majority of likely to finish the office snacks and that remains to be true Eddington takes us back five years to which both feels like the previous day and a lifetime ago at the same time Joaquin Phoenix as Joe Cross I am recording this Fair warning Pedro Pascal as Ted Garcia That really necessary Look Joe Ted starts walking toward Jow but Joe motions him to stop Joaquin Phoenix as Joe Cross Six feet Talk about a blast from the newest past Joaquin Phoenix as Joe Cross How did we get here And even worse is it worth it At the cost of being at war with your neighbors Tensions are running high in the new dark comedy Western Eddington Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix play political rivals who are running against each other in a mayoral race and to make things even messier it s all going down at the height of the COVID- pandemic in Joaquin Phoenix We all were going through these things together We were all terrified and we didn t fully understand it And instead of kind of like reaching out to each other in those moments and going like Hey I m scared are you scared too Yeah OK cool we kind of like became antagonistic towards each other The film touches on all kinds of hot topics like protests and conspiracies Controversial sure but Joaquin says tackling these things and revisiting this time period in the movie allowed him to reflect on the past Joaquin Phoenix It allowed me to feel connected to people that I might not have felt a connection to prior to that To empathize with and to understand and to like forgive everybody and forgive myself Eddington reunited Joaquin with his Beau Is Afraid director Ari Aster He had a clear vision of what he requested this movie to be Ari Aster I needed to make a film that you know functioned as a genre film It s a Western It kind of becomes an action movie at the end The cast is rounded out by selected pretty big names who jumped at the chance to work with Ari Pedro Pascal Reading the script I was like You son of a expletive The guy that put me through Hereditary and Midsommar I was in heaven Austin Butler It was one of those experiences I knew I had to be a part of promptly Luke Grimes I think he s the greatest director of our generation Emma Stone I love his writing so much and Ari has a deep talent for turning things on their head Joaquin definitely agrees Joaquin Phoenix I just appreciate him and I instantly like the way that he talks about the world his observations his humor I get it Like he doesn t have to explain it to me Ted slaps Joe Pedro Pascal as Ted Garcia We are in a fight against evil Ted slaps Joe again Eddington hits theaters July