Armen Nahapetian names his biggest cinematic inspirations
Actor Armen Nahapetian landed the role of a lifetime when he was brought into the cast of Ari Aster’s new black-comedy-horror film Beau is Afraid. Nahapetian is playing the younger version of Joaquin Phoenix’s titular character and has admitted that it is his most significant role to date.
When Far Out spoke to Nahapetian recently, we asked him who his biggest inspirations are from the world of cinema. He replied: “I’m not just saying this because I have to, but Joaquin Phoenix, definitely. He’s an amazing actor.” When we followed up, wondering if Nahapetian admired any particular performances of Phoenix’s, he couldn’t help but pick out The Joker.
“That was kind of the first time that I saw Joaquin. And I really think it’s amazing how he’s able to play a deranged man,” Nahapetian said. “And it could be like a super serious scene. And then he just goes into laughing like five seconds later. That’s really hard to do. I can’t pretend to laugh for the life of me. So his performance in Joker is amazing.”
Phoenix is not the only big star name to be admired by Nahapetian, though he also picks out Leonardo DiCaprio for a special mention, but not merely for his acting skills. “He has just a touch for associating himself with amazing films and people,” he said. “And not only are they great actors, but I love what they are doing for giving back to our world.”
It’s the fact that both Phoenix and DiCaprio do their fair share of humanitarian work that Nahapetian wants to do the same for animals. “One day, I just want to open up a ranch and give animals a loving home on that ranch where they have a lot of land and area to play and eventually get a loving owner,” he said, “because when I see all the sad animals, it really, really makes me sad, because they’re pure love and they deserve so much better.”
In terms of directors, Nahapetian admits that he would love to work with Wes Anderson and named a number of his favourite films by the cinema icon: “I love Wes Anderson. The French Dispatch. Asteroid City is coming out soon. I’m really excited about that. The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of my favourites. Working with him would be a dream. I love his style of filming. You know, it’s super colourful. It’s symmetrical. That’d be awesome.”
Elsewhere, Nahapetian expressed admiration for one of the most brilliant British directors and a true icon of American film: “Edgar Wright. I love Scott Pilgrim, Baby Driver, some of my favourite films. And, of course, Martin Scorsese. Classic. He’s always making amazing films. I love to work with all of them.”
