Eddington

Eddington is a neo-Western satirical thriller written and directed by Ari Aster, who wrote the screenplay during the COVID-19 pandemic while living in Albuquerque near family. Aster, who earned his BFA from the College of Santa Fe in 2008, felt an urgency to document the pandemic moment authentically rather than retrospectively. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Sheriff Joe Cross, Pedro Pascal as Mayor Ted Garcia, alongside Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, Micheal Ward, Deirdre O'Connell, and Clifton Collins Jr. Set in May 2020 in a fictional New Mexico town, the story follows a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor over plans to bring an AI data center to the community, igniting political and social turmoil as neighbor turns against neighbor. Principal photography ran from March 11 through May 17, 2024, spanning 11 weeks across multiple New Mexico locations. The production spent five of those weeks in Truth or Consequences (formerly Hot Springs, renamed after a 1950s radio game show), a quirky desert town selected by location manager John Lucas for its distinctive character. Aster noted that wherever you stand in T or C, you can see the whole geography of the town, including its iconic water tower. The crew transformed local landmarks into the fictional town of Eddington: the Giddy Up Cafe became Paula's Cafe, an old building at Jones and McAdoo became Gunthers firearms store, and Broadway's historic buildings were converted into the Sevilla County Sheriff's office. Additional filming took place in Madrid and near Albuquerque. Behind the scenes, recreating pandemic-era authenticity required emptying streets and parking lots, while staff at local grocery stores found reinstalling plexiglass barriers emotionally difficult. Cinematographer Darius Khondji mounted custom lighting rigs on utility poles to replace unflattering LED streetlights, made possible by the city's electric co-op infrastructure. The production also required delicate negotiations with local officials for machine-gun battle sequences and massive protest scenes. Eddington premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2025, and was released in U.S. theaters on July 18, 2025. The film grossed $13.7 million worldwide and received mixed-to-positive reviews, holding a 69% score on Rotten Tomatoes and 65 on Metacritic. Filmmaker John Waters selected it as the best movie of 2025.