Beau Is Afraid is the latest mind-blowing family drama from A24, plunging audiences into outrageous worlds peopled with comically unhinged art design, shocking prosthetics, and a curious creature in the attic. So, what from this weird and wondrous world did stars Joaquin Phoenix, Parker Posey, and Patti LuPone keep — or wish they had?
The answers are spoilers for Beau Is Afraid's wild third act. So, proceed with caution.
Will A24 host a Beau Is Afraid auction?
For Everything Everywhere All At Once, A24 offered cinephiles a chance to own movie history, auctioning off props, costumes, and even sets pieces of the Best Picture winner. No such plans have been announced for Beau is Afraid. Asked about the possibility in a paired interview with Joaquin Phoenix, writer/director Ari Aster said, "They have not spoken to me about that. But that sounds like a thing that they would do."
Were a charity auction to occur, what would Aster want to take home? "All of it," he said with a smile. "Just all of it."
In a separate interview, Parker Posey noted she'd like to have her life cast from the film's sex scene. "I want it. Don't you think I should have it?" she asked Mashable. (We do.)
In another interview with Mashable, Patti LuPone, who plays Beau's super-businesswoman mother, said, "I stopped taking stuff from sets because I just can't do it anymore." But were she to keep something from Beau Is Afraid, "It would be that picture…the large picture with all of the people in it with my head." Of course, the portrait of Mona is made up of the faces of all the people who work for her company, MW.
There's perhaps time for some of these wishes to come true, but Joaquin Phoenix already got his.
What did Joaquin Phoenix keep from Beau Is Afraid?
"Well, you know, my wrap gift," Phoenix said to Aster. "The thing I asked for, and then found out that they already planned on giving me was…" The Academy Award-winning actor then turned to me, Mashable's reporter, and said, "Guess what?"
The monster puppet from the attic? Aster said that'd be too big to be a keepsake.
"Close! Think about it. What stands out about Beau?" Phoenix hinted. "What stands out about his anatomy?"
Have you guessed it?
Aster offered: "His distended testicles."
Joaquin Phoenix kept the engorged prosthetic testicles seen on Beau in the bath and in that outlandish sex scene. Does he have them in a spot of honor? A special trinkets box?
"Honestly, I don't know where they are."
When LuPone was told this story, she laughed, "He doesn't know where they are? Oh my God, where are they hanging around?"
Beau is Afraid is now in theaters. Look for more interviews from the cast and crew on Mashable.
