A standoff between a small-town sheriff and a mayor pits neighbor against neighbor in Director Ari Aster’s dark comedy western, Eddington.

Aster’s film takes us back to May 2020 when a clash over lockdowns and mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic polarizes the town of Eddington, New Mexico.

On July 20, after the DGA membership screening in New York, Aster discussed the making of Eddington during a Q&A moderated by Director Tim Blake Nelson (Anesthesia).

During the conversation, Aster spoke about how he approached the film without being judgmental of the characters.

“I wanted to approach this from something of a sociological stance. I wanted to understand all of these people and, for me, they’re all kind of gripped by this yearning. I wanted the movie to be really sad. It’s supposed to be funny — and I hope it is funny and exciting and inscrutable and I hope it’s something you have to wrestle with while you’re watching it — it was important to me that I not judge these people, that I understood all of them and I felt like I did. I see myself in all these characters in one way or another.”

Aster’s other directorial credits include the feature films Hereditary, Midsommar and Beau is Afraid. He has been a DGA member since 2019.