Michael Ward is reportedly in talks to star in Ari Aster’s next movie, Eddington.
According to Jeff Sneider’s The InSneider, Ward is being eyed to play the male lead in Aster’s Eddington, which is being released through A24 but does not have an official release date at this time.
Ward was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light, which was released in 2022. He’s also starred in movies such as 2020’s The Old Guard, 2024’s The Book of Clarence, and the forthcoming The Beautiful Game, which is being released by Netflix this March. He additionally played Franklyn in Cooper in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe: Lovers Rock.
What do we know about Ari Aster’s Eddington?
“A couple, Lindsay and Marc, are driving through New Mexico on their way to Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the synopsis, according to Letterboxd, reads. “The couple runs out of gas just outside of small copper mining town: Eddington. Lindsay and Marc decide to enter the town for help. They are at first greeted very warmly, but as nightfall comes, the picturesque setting soon turns into a nightmare.”
A number of actors have been rumored to star in Aster’s Eddington, including Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Pedo Pascal, Austin Butler, and more. According to Sneider, Phoenix, who will likely be playing a supporting cast member, is the only confirmed actor confirmed at this time.
Phoenix and Aster previously collaborated on Beau is Afraid, which was released in the United States in April 2023. Aster is also known for writing and directing 2018’s Hereditary and 2019’s Midsommar.
Aster has been working on Eddington for a while, as he once told a Reddit AMA that there was a point in time when he thought it might be the first movie he would make prior to Hereditary and Midsommar.
“I don’t know if you’d call it a revisionist western,” he said. “It’s contemporary; one foot is in the western, and one foot is even more heavily in the noir genre. So it’s like a film noir ensemble western dark comedy.”
