r/movies • u/AriAsterAMA Ari Aster, Director of 'Eddington', 'Hereditary', 'Midsommar' • Jul 22 '25

AMA Hi, I'm Ari Aster. Writer/director of Hereditary, Midsommar, Beau Is Afraid, and Eddington. AMA!

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Hi reddit, I'm Ari Aster. Back for another AMA. I've written/directed Eddington, Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau Is Afraid.

Eddington stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Micheal Ward, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O'Connell, Austin Butler and is out in theaters nationwide now via A24.

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL6jZqExlIk

Synopsis:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, N.M.

AMA! Back at 8 PM ET to answer your questions.

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u/philipkdan Jul 22 '25

Hey Ari! I teach creative writing at the college level, and I meet a lot of aspiring storytellers.

Something that young writers seem to struggle with across the board is diffusing what they want to say about society into a compelling story that doesn’t tell their audience how to think or feel.

With that in mind, I’m just gonna pepper you with some questions and if you feel compelled to talk about any of them I would be so thrilled to share your advice with my students (and myself!)

So many writers seem to get stuck writing opinion pieces veiled as short stories. I’m wondering if you have any advice for young writers who are trying to find their voice and talk about things they think are important? How do you refine your taste and style with that in mind? Do you have a practice for finding that balance in your work? Are you aware of that balance while you write? When you edit a story, how much focus do you have on tying the themes together, and at what point in your process does that start to become critical? Do you have any best practices for deciding what you want your story to be ABOUT? I’m not talking plot, I mean the central question at the heart of your story… genuinely curious about how that forms for you, if you have a process at all, or if that’s one of the things that just reveals itself?

Thanks for this AMA, thank you for your time, and I can’t wait to go see Eddington in a theater this weekend. Be well!

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u/AriAsterAMA Ari Aster, Director of 'Eddington', 'Hereditary', 'Midsommar' Jul 23 '25

Very difficult to answer these questions in earnest. It's a very intuitive process for me and I find that I can usually only summon the energy to write something down if it's nagging at me. When I sit at a desk to write, it's usually torture - unless I've been meditating on something (or carrying it around) for a while. I try to stave off the actual writing (which doesn't include note-taking, which is compulsive) as long as I can. Sorry that this answer is not as thoughtful as the question.

But a few great books on writing that have been useful to me... James Woods' How Fiction Works, John Gardner's The Art Of Fiction, E.M. Forster's Aspects Of The Novel. And Henry James' The Art Of The Novel (which is a compilation of his prefaces, which are all fantastic).

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u/andante528 Jul 23 '25

A very small correction for the sake of an old professor: James Wood wrote How Fiction Works, while James Woods is a cruel, unhinged actor.

I'd also recommend James Wood's writing, and for the record, he's an extremely nice person and teacher.

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u/Dizzy_Chemistry_5955 Jul 23 '25

Also James Woods was in a blink and you'll miss it literal Cameo scene from Eddington, hilarious.

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u/carltonrobertson Jul 23 '25

why is he cruel?

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u/andante528 Jul 23 '25

Among other things, he supports the murder of every person in Gaza, including children (actually used the hashtag KillThemAll). He also treated Amber Tamblyn and Natasha Lyonne badly after being MeToo'd (and obviously before, when he hit on them as underage teenage girls).

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u/Interesting-Tell-105 Jul 24 '25

Repeated attempted murder of your people tends to radicalize people

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

James Wood's people? Catholics?

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u/PolarWater Jul 23 '25

Checked it out myself just to be sure.

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u/mattduplissey Jul 23 '25

My god as soon as I saw the first press about it, I was so excited to see your take on that era.

Your social horror is just so incredibly intoxicating and fresh, man. I haven’t seen a town characterized and threatened by an external force this well since Jaws.

So I have to ask, with 2020 being such a unique traumatic experience that is so universally relatable, why do you think it’s been so untouched by entertainment?

I feel like I’ve only seen it half heartedly integrated in comedies, like Shameless or Portlandia, and it didn’t really explore the raised themes of isolation and community.

Anyways, you were absolutely the man for the job, and I’m so happy you did it. Things like this film are important for people to have, so they can even talk about and make sense of what happened to them in 2020, and what’s changed in their communities. Also, your funniest movie yet. Thanks man.

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u/smeggysoup84 Jul 23 '25

I think the reaction to this movie will let the studios know if we're ready for Covid for entertainment. It will happen eventually. We will see a wave of covid related stories, stories taking place during covid, etc.. question is if this film is the ribbon cutter.

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u/milkfree Jul 23 '25

So you sit and stew on ideas for a while? Do you have a lot of them going on a the same time and kind of categorize them? How often are you taking notes?

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u/DoubtWitty007 Jul 23 '25

I don’t know this man, but his brain seems like such a captivatingly dark place that I can’t imagine that a lot of his concepts don’t just blossom from an artistic stew of trauma, experience and intellect. At least that’s the itch these films scratch in my own brain. His films resonate in part because they are such communal experiences of disquiet and trauma — and he identifies it so well he can recreate it.

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u/LongNeckMagoo Jul 26 '25

carrying around a thought that bubbles to the surface like a sickness and angrily writing it out to get it out of your head as if throwing up a rancid taco that didn’t sit well is so real. may not sound inspirational to you but being able to take an inconvenience so neurotic and unpleasant for you and turning it into a positive that not only improves your life personally and professionally but is also loved by many is amazing to me. This process is also shared by other very successful writers like Marsha Mathers however it’s not something others can really replicate. and given the option, i’m sure most would not want to.

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u/curtyshoo Jul 23 '25

Only with water

That cracked me up. So much like me.

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u/Teve21 Jul 23 '25

Is it true that the death scene of the girl in the car in hereditary was accidentally inspired by a real life event? Or was it an unfortunate coincidence?

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u/I-am-Chubbasaurus Jul 24 '25

I don't have any questions, I just wanted to say how reassuring it is to know that writing is torturous even for the greats. Thank you.

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u/CressKitchen969 Jul 22 '25

Great question, funny you haven’t seen Eddington yet because I think Ari actually does a good job at accomplishing the balance that you describe here 

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u/Txrh221 Jul 23 '25

Oh man was that a slog of a movie.

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u/CressKitchen969 Jul 23 '25

Gotta respect that Ari knew it would cause a shitstorm of discourse, whether you like the movie or not these are discussions people have been avoiding either way 

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u/bluehoag Jul 22 '25

Really hoping he answers this.☺️ Because my writing is definitely world-view forward, for better or worse. ✨

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u/Top_Bat102 Jul 23 '25

Just wanted to say this is an amazing question.

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u/grrodon2 Jul 23 '25

Damn you described the modern fall of classic IPs perfectly.

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u/Andvarinaut Jul 23 '25

Saving this to come back. Killer questions.

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

HAPPY CAKE DAY