Is This ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Character a De-Aged Joaquin Phoenix? Why AI Has Some Viewers Asking Which Film Actors Are Real
variety.comJ. Kim Murphy Armen Nahapetian wants the world to know: “I’m not AI.” The 16-year-old actor is gaining notice, but not only for playing a teenage version of Joaquin Phoenix’s titular worrywart in Ari Aster’s epic dark comedy “Beau Is Afraid.” He added the disclaimer to his Instagram bio because people keep thinking he’s not a real person, but instead a digitally de-aged Phoenix. “I went to the movie theater a few weeks ago, and one of the employees was pointing at the poster saying, ‘Oh, my God, you’re real!’” Nahapetian recalls, speaking with Variety.
The main poster art features four versions of Beau, all posing in shimmering gray satin pajamas. There’s a Phoenix wearing a farmer’s hat, a Phoenix sporting male pattern baldness, a Phoenix buried under wrinkles — and a smooth-faced Nahapetian.
The theater employee’s confusion may seem absurd, but the reasoning makes sense: Here are three Joaquin Phoenixes; by inference, the fourth must be one too, right?
The “Beau” mix-up goes beyond the key art. Photographs of Nahapetian at the film’s premiere dumbfounded a fair number of social media users, who had also mistaken the actor for a de-aged Phoenix after watching the trailer.
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