A24 has released the first teaser for “Eddington”, the highly anticipated fourth feature from director Ari Aster. The darkly comedic modern Western is set to premiere in competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival this May and features an all-star ensemble led by Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler.
“Eddington” Premise
Set in the fictional desert town of “Eddington”, New Mexico, the story unfolds during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020. According to A24’s synopsis, “a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Phoenix) and mayor (Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor.”
The teaser opens with a male narrator’s eerie voice: “Of course, they keep looking at that lab in China. If you look at that lab in Wuhan… When that was established, it was 1956. Of course, that was the year Tom Hanks was born, the first celebrity with the virus.” The unsettling tone sets the stage for a film steeped in conspiracy, paranoia, and dark humor.
Phoenix’s sheriff is shown doomscrolling through his phone as the chaos of 2020 flashes by: pandemic protests, viral posts, and conspiracy theories blend together. In one clip, he warns viewers, “If you value your life, you should think twice because the people at Eddington like guns.” His words seem to signal a larger unraveling of social order in the town.
In another moment, Austin Butler’s character appears in front of a crowd declaring, “Your pain is not a coincidence. You are not a coincidence. We are not a coincidence.” Later, Emma Stone’s character makes a pointed public statement: “I’m speaking now to deny my husband’s announcement yesterday, which was false.” Amélie Hoeferle plays a young woman posting cryptic social media content. One of her videos features the overlay text, “When you finish reading James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room,” with a caption that reads, “1 like = 1 ACAB.”
The film also features a wave of online content familiar to 2020 viewers—clips referencing #BlackoutTuesday, a bizarre Michael Jackson–9/11 theory, and a headline reading: “‘Law and Order’ Sheriff Assaults Protestor in Town Rocked By Murders.” Mayor Ted Garcia, played by Pascal, is seen in a campaign video promising to “keep Eddington safe during the pandemic,” as tensions in the community escalate.
What The Cast Has Said About “Eddington”
Ari Aster wrote, directed, and produced the film alongside longtime collaborator Lars Knudsen under their Square Peg banner. This is their sixth collaboration with A24, following the acclaimed psychological horror films Hereditary and Midsommar, and the surreal drama Beau Is Afraid, which also starred Phoenix.
In an earlier conversation for Variety’s “Directors on Directors” series, Aster spoke about working with Phoenix: “Having now worked with him, I understand why he is so reluctant to jump onto anything — because he really puts all of himself into whatever he’s doing… The question usually amounts to ‘Is there anything we haven’t considered here?’ I realized that it’s something that I was really wanting from an actor, and now I can’t imagine making a film without him.”
Austin Butler also praised the film and his collaborators in a recent Hollywood Reporter interview, saying, “I’m a huge fan of Ari and Joaquin and Emily and [DP] Darius Khondji and everybody involved. The entire team was incredible to work with… It was a wild adventure that I got to go on. I got to play a character who’s very different from anything that I’ve done.”
In addition to Phoenix, Pascal, Stone, and Butler, the film features Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, Clifton Collins Jr., William Belleau, Cameron Mann, Matt Gomez Hidaka, and Amélie Hoeferle. “Eddington” is set to hit theaters nationwide on July 18, following its Cannes debut. A mix of political satire, pandemic-era dread, and Western noir, Aster’s latest promises to be both topical and provocatively surreal.
