The latest movie from up-and-coming director of dementedly wonderful films Midsommar and Hereditary has been given a new poster, and title. Ari Aster's latest work, Beau is Afraid, stars Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. A24 today shared the first look at the movie via Twitter.

The film, which was originally titled Disappointment Blvd. has been long in the works for Aster, and is currently slated for release to theaters at some point in 2023. The poster shows an extremely uncanny depiction of what appears to be Phoenix as a child - or at least a child version of his character - dressed in, admittedly, a very nice pair of silk pajamas.

Aster had previously said that the next project he was working on was going to be a four-hour long 'nightmare comedy' when this feature was officially announced back in February 2021. Details of the plot have not yet been disclosed, but at the time, the film was described as “intimate, decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.”

Joaquin Phoenix playing Navy veteran Freddie Quell in 'The Master'
Image via Annapurna Pictures

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The director, in an interview with IndieWire, had previously said that his next film would definitely not be a horror movie. "It might take me a few movies before I wind back around to horror," he said. "But I love horror and I’m sure I’ll be back. Head trauma will ALWAYS have a place in my films.”

The cast of Beau is Afraid also includes Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, and Parker Posey. Henderson confirmed that production on the movie concluded back in October 2021, saying at the time: "Joaquin and Ari were so simpatico, and they worked together for the whole film. I came in pretty close to the end of the shoot and so they had been working a while. And their way of working together was like they were really old friends. They could get upset and make up in the span of seconds, it seemed. But the work was always the better for it.”

It's been a banner year for A24, with its film Everything Everywhere All at Once becoming its first film to pass $100 million at the worldwide box office, while its current release - The Whale, from Darren Aronofsky and starring Brendan Fraser - has scored the biggest arthouse opening of the year, while Fraser is considered the front-runner for the major awards season.

Check out the poster for Beau Is Afraid below:

beau is afraid
Image via A24