Austin Butler Says Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington’ Is a ‘Wild’ Film: It’s Unlike ‘Anything That I’ve Done’

Austin Butler is teasing as much as he can about Ari Aster’s upcoming fourth feature “Eddington.”

Butler is part of a star-studded ensemble cast for the secretive project that includes Academy Award winners Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, plus Pedro Pascal, Glen Powell, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, and Clifton Collins Jr.

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Butler told The Hollywood Reporter that the film is a “wild adventure” unlike anything he has done before.

“I’m a huge fan of Ari and Joaquin [Phoenix] and Emily [Emma Stone] and [DP] Darius Khondji and everybody involved. The entire team was incredible to work with,” Butler said. “I don’t want to give much away as far as the story and character go, but 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.”

The Oscar-nominated actor added, “Ari and I have been friends for a little bit, and it was great to see him on set. He is such an incredible filmmaker, and he has such confidence and such a sense of humor and wild imagination. I truly loved working with him.”

“Eddington” centers on a a small-town New Mexico sheriff with higher aspirations. The film reunites Aster with “Beau Is Afraid” actor Phoenix. There have been rumors that the movie is set during the pandemic when a couple runs out of gas in the small town of Eddington and are greeted warmly, only for the town to turn nightmarish by nightfall.

Writer/director Aster said during a Reddit AMA that he’s been working on “Eddington” for years. Aster described the storyline as a “Western-noir dark ensemble comedy.”

And Aster isn’t the only A24 auteur that “The Bikeriders” star Butler will be working with: Butler is set to team up with Darren Aronofsky for the adaptation of Charlie Huston’s novel “Caught Stealing.” Huston will pen the Sony crime thriller, which is the first of Huston’s Henry Thompson trilogy.

The story follows alcoholic bartender Hank Thompson (Butler), a former high-school baseball prospect who gets caught up in a treasure hunt through New York City. A sadistic police officer tries to outrun Thompson, hit men, and mobsters to find the treasure.

“Caught Stealing” was originally set for an adaptation in 2013 with Patrick Wilson in the lead role and Alec Baldwin as the cop.

Butler is also rumored to be circling Michael Mann’s “Heat 2” with Adam Driver.

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