Eddington with Ari Aster and Tim Blake Nelson (Ep. 553)

The Director’s Cut - A DGA Podcast

Directors Guild of America

Tv & Film

4.6 • 806 Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Director Ari Aster discusses his new film, Eddington, with fellow Director Tim Blake Nelson in a Q&A at the DGA theater in New York. In the conversation, he discusses finding inspiration for the film in the information spheres of Twitter, interviewing residents of New Mexico on their perspectives of events during the Covid-19 pandemic, and gradually progressing the sense of paranoia in the film until the line between reality and perception is blurred. The film takes us back to May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic when a clash over lockdowns and mask mandates polarizes the town of Eddington, New Mexico. When Sheriff Joe Cross gets fed up with the increasing political tensions, he decides to run for Mayor in what ends up being a tense, turbulent and eventually violent mayoral campaign. See photos and a summary of this event below: https://www.dga.org/events/2025/september2025/eddington_qna_0725

Transcript

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0:00.0	But I still wanted to approach this from like something of a sociological stance.
0:04.0	And I wanted to understand all of these people.
0:07.5	And for me, they're all kind of gripped by this yearning.
0:11.9	It just was important to me that I not judge these people and that I understood all of them.
0:16.6	And I felt like I felt like I did.
0:18.2	And I put myself into all of them.
0:43.5	Yeah. And I felt like I did and I put myself into all of them. Hello, and welcome back to the director's cut, brought to you by the Directors Guild of America.
0:49.3	In this episode, a standoff between a small town sheriff and the town mayor pits neighbor against neighbor and director Ari Aster's dark comedy western, Eddington.
0:55.1	The film takes us back to May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic,
0:59.8	when a clash over lockdowns and mask mandates polarizes the town of Eddington, New Mexico.
1:05.1	When Sheriff Droke Cross gets fed up with the increasing political tensions,
1:09.4	he decides to run for mayor in what ends
1:11.7	up being a tense, turbulent, and eventually violent mayoral campaign. In addition to Eddington,
1:19.7	Aster's other directorial credits include the feature films Hereditary, Midsamar, and Bo is Afraid.
1:32.3	Following a screening of the film at the DGA Theatre in New York, Aster spoke with director Tim Blake Nelson about filming Eddington.
1:35.3	Listen on for their spoiler-filled conversation.
1:38.3	Thanks for coming, everybody.
1:50.7	This is my third time seeing this remarkable film,
1:55.7	and I'd just like to start by saying,
1:57.7	thank you, Ari, for doing this movie.
2:03.9	So, I get my old man glasses on.
2:08.6	My first question is, what strikes me immediately about this movie is's resolute indifference to being light.
	...

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