In the wake of the critically acclaimed Hereditary, you’re probably equal parts excited and terrified to see what writer/director Ari Aster does next. Believe it or not, Hereditary was Aster’s debut feature, and you could say that his future as a filmmaker is looking incredibly bright… as well as, if Hereditary is any indication, impossibly dark.
Aster, as he revealed in a chat with THR, has more on his mind than horror – “I would love to make a musical,” he told the site – but his next is indeed another horror film, tentatively titled Midsommer. Specifically, it’s another horror film with A24, the company that brought Hereditary (and countless other recent genre gems like Green Room and The Witch) into theaters.
“I’m in pre-production for my next film which will be shooting in Hungary. A24 is doing that as well, and that is technically a horror film,” Aster tells THR. “It’s Scandinavian folk horror. That is the only other horror movie I have. And I’m pretty sure that’s going to be it for a long time.”
A24 will both produce and fully finance Aster’s “Scandinavian folk horror” film, which is expected to be their largest production to date. As Deadline recently noted, the film is going to kick off production in late Summer/early Fall 2018, with the plot following a young woman who reluctantly joins her boyfriend on a summer trip.
As you’d probably expect, things quickly go awry from there.
Aster recently teased more details in a chat with Film Comment, calling Midsommer an “apocalyptic breakup movie,” while also expounding on the plot…
The story follows a young couple visiting an isolated Swedish village; over the course of their vacation, they discover that its residents participate in an eccentric set of seasonal traditions. The recent death of the main character’s parents casts a sense of dread over the proceedings.
Hungary is playing the role of Sweden for Midsommer, where the horror film’s main setting, a 15-building village, will soon be constructed by the production crew.
After Midsommer, Aster will be moving beyond the horror genre, as he explains to THR…
“I consider myself a genre filmmaker in that I want to play in every genre. I would love to make a musical. I have ten other scripts that I’ve written that I want to make and there are other things I have. I’m writing a sci-fi film and there are at least four or five movies that I have ready to go that I am excited about making that I’d like to do in succession.”
