“Eddington is a film about a bunch of people who know that something is wrong,” says writer-director Ari Aster. “It’s just that nobody can agree on what that thing is.”

Aster joins us this week to unpack his controversial, COVID-era western: his time back home in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he wrote through lockdown (9:30), the works of Robert Altman (18:00) and Oliver Stone (19:15) that served as sources of inspiration, and how Beau Is Afraid (5:54) cleared the path for Eddington. Aster also shares his early adventures in moviegoing: including Brian De Palma’s Carrie (22:10), Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (23:45), Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (23:47), and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (24:50).

On the back-half, we talk about how he found his voice in film school (30:28), his divisive AFI senior thesis film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (31:16), the seven years, post-college, that it took to break through with Hereditary (34:18), followed by his breakdown on Midsommar (38:30), and his ‘novelistic’ approach to screenwriting (40:30). To close, we read from Paul Schrader’s infamous Facebook post (45:48) on how AI will change moviemaking (46:05) and a Nietzsche quote that Ari says helps explain this moment in American life (52:45).

Watch this conversation on our new YouTube channel.

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

&ldquo;Eddington is a film about a bunch of people who know that something is wrong,&rdquo; says writer-director Ari Aster. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that nobody can agree on what that thing is.&rdquo;
Aster joins us this week to unpack his controversial, COVID-era western: his time back home in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he wrote through lockdown (9:30), the works of Robert Altman (18:00) and Oliver Stone (19:15) that served as sources of inspiration, and how Beau Is Afraid (5:54) cleared the path for Eddington. Aster also shares his early adventures in moviegoing: including Brian De Palma&rsquo;s Carrie (22:10), Peter Greenaway&rsquo;s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife &amp; Her Lover (23:45), Stanley Kubrick&rsquo;s Full Metal Jacket (23:47), and David Lynch&rsquo;s Blue Velvet (24:50).
On the back-half, we talk about how he found his voice in film school (30:28), his divisive AFI senior thesis film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (31:16), the seven years, post-college, that it took to break through with&nbsp;Hereditary (34:18), followed by his breakdown on Midsommar (38:30), and his &lsquo;novelistic&rsquo; approach to screenwriting (40:30). To close, we read from Paul Schrader&rsquo;s infamous Facebook post (45:48) on how AI will change moviemaking (46:05) and a Nietzsche quote that Ari says helps explain this moment in American life (52:45).
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc9VjN4SqpA&amp;t=1751s">Watch this conversation</a> on our new YouTube channel.
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at mail@talkeasypod.com.

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is a weekly series of intimate conversations with artists, activists, and politicians. Where people sound like people. Hosted by Sam Fragoso. New episodes every Sunday.

Where people sound like people, since 2016.

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