A24 has revealed the first teaser for Ari Aster’s upcoming dark comedy slash western thriller Eddington, and it's an immersive social media doomscroll that puts you right in the eye of a political storm.
The trailer opens with an Eddington local scrolling through their Instagram feed, where they see a clip of Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) speaking to the public. "If you value your life, you should think twice," says Cross, "because the people of Eddington like guns." On the next scroll, we see Dune star Austin Butler ranting and raving, followed by a video of Emma Stone’s Louise Stone denouncing her husband's (Phoenix) earlier statement. Watch the full trailer below.
But that's not all, as there is so much to unpack in the 1-minute-long trailer. The scroller goes past a video of a young woman dancing with the caption reading, "When you finish reading James Baldwin’s Giovanni's Room," in reference to the classic '50s novel exploring themes of shame and sexuality. We also see responses to the pandemic, conspiracy theories, and Blackout Tuesday – the 2020 call to action where users would post a black square in protest of racism and police brutality.
The video ends with Pedro Pascal’s Ted Garcia campaign to be mayor of Eddington. The last post sees the Sheriff pushing someone over with the caption reading, "Sheriff assaults protestor in town rocked by murders." At the end of the clip, it is revealed that the scroller is in fact Sheriff Joe Cross.
From the trailer, we can see that the film centers on one of the most tense times in the US, 2020. That year saw not only the COVID pandemic shake the nation, but also the murder of an unarmed Black man named George Floyd by police, which sparked outrage and a need for change. These are heavy topics, but writer and director Aster is well known for dealing with hard-hitting themes such as grief and loss in his A24 horror movies Hereditary and Midsommar.
However, it looks like the movie will focus on two men in particular during this tense time, and how a divided nation plays backdrop to their conflict. The official synopsis from A24 reads: "In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbour is pitted against neighbour in Eddington, New Mexico."
Eddington will have its world premiere at The Cannes Film Festival, and will hit theaters on July 18. For more, see our list of the best western movies, or keep up with upcoming movies.
