Ari Aster Casts Joaquin Phoenix in His Latest Film

It was around this time last year that Joaquin Phoenix won the first Oscar of his career for his titular role in the film Joker. While Jared Leto might be getting press for his impending performance in that role in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Phoenix has bigger fish to try, lining up a major new project with one of the most discussed directors in the business. 

Deadline has announced that Ari Aster has officially cast Phoenix in his new feature, titled Disappointment Blvd. While details about the film are under strict lock and key, it’s said to be “an intimate, decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time”. 

That seems like a potential change of pace for the filmmaker who has been chilling the bones of audiences with his first two features, the nerve-wracking horror films Hereditary and Midsommar. 

Both of those films found their home with A24, so it’s no surprise that part of the announcement today includes the fact that the studio will again be working with Aster to finance and produce the feature. 

Assuming that production gets underway soon, Disappointments Blvd. would be Phoenix’s first job since winning his Oscar last year. He has Mike Mills’ highly anticipated new film C’mon C’mon set to come out later this year, also from A24, which was shot in 2019. Also recently announced was Phoenix’s casting as Napoleon Bonaparte for Ridley Scott’s Kitbag, but with so much on Scott’s docket, Phoenix will likely shoot the Aster film before reuniting with his Gladiator director. 

One thing is for certain; Phoenix is more in demand right now than he’s ever been before, and he’s choosing big projects with major directors.