I watched the “Eddington” press conference from Cannes so you wouldn’t have to. It contained more drama than Ari Aster’s panned movie.
Star Joaquin Phoenix said almost nothing and no one asked him any questions.
Pedro Pascal, who apparently exits the movie a short time in, was the focus of all attention. When asked a question about Trump’s immigration policies, Pascal spoke movingly.
He said: “Fuck the people that try to make you scared, you know? And fight back. This is the perfect way to do so in telling stories. And don’t let them win.”
He added: “I want people to be safe and to be protected, and I want very much to live on the right of history. I’m an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the U.S. after asylum in Denmark. If it weren’t for that, I don’t know what would have happened to us. I stand by those protections.”
Pascal was the only member of the cast to wear just a sleeveless t shirt as if he were going to play basketball after the press conference was over.
Pascal was also the focus of a contretemps when the same reporter mentioned that he dies in “The Last of Us.” Co-star Emma Stone blurted out, “I didn’t know that!” The whole room then turned on the reporter for releasing a spoiler.
The death on “The Last of Us” was three weeks ago. I guess Emma isn’t keeping up with HBO.
Director Aster also responded to the reasons he wrote “Eddington.” I’m giving you the quote as if it were said in one piece, but it was punctuated with stammers and stops, maybe because of jet lag or because Aster was having trouble finding the right words.
He said that he wrote the film “in a state of fear and anxiety about the world.”
Then came his statement, again, not said in one piece: “I wanted to show what it feels like to live in a world where nobody can agree on what is real anymore,” he said. “Over the last 20 years, we’ve fallen into this age of hyper-individualism. That social force that used to be central in liberal mass democracies — and agreed upon vision of the world — that is gone now. COVID felt like the moment where that link was finally cut for good. I wanted to make a film about what America feels like, to me. I’m very worried.”
If only “Eddington” had this much drama. It’s panned, teetering at 59% on Rotten Tomatoes. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter, wrote on Twitter:
“Bummed to report that Ari Aster’s EDDINGTON is a snooze. Loved HEREDITARY and MIDSOMMAR, and found a lot of things to like in the uneven BEAU IS AFRAID, but this overstuffed pandemic Western left me cold.”
