‘Beau Is Afraid’ actor proves he’s real following CGI speculation
Ari Aster has recently treated fans to his third direction, Beau Is Afraid. The movie arrived in cinemas earlier this month and drew in swathes of moviegoers following the high acclaim of Aster’s previous movies, Hereditary and Midsommar.
The movie stars Joaquin Phoenix as Beau, “a mild-mannered man riddled by paranoia, who confronts his worst fears on an epic journey to his hometown for his mother’s funeral,” as the synopsis reads.
Set over multiple timelines, the movie also features a young version of Beau. As Steven Spielberg cast Joaquin’s brother late brother, River Phoenix, to play a young Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Aster cast the 16-year-old Armen Nahapetian as a young Joaquin. However, audiences have been fooled.
Some moviegoers have been deceived into believing Aster must’ve used AI or special effects to create the uncanny young Beau, causing Nahapetian to come forward to prove his existence. “I’m not AI,” the 16-year-old recently wrote in his Instagram bio.
In a recent interview with Variety, Nahapetian discussed the allegations of CGI and AI technology. “I went to the movie theatre a few weeks ago, and one of the employees was pointing at the poster saying, ‘Oh, my God, you’re real!'” Nahapetian recalled. “It’s half-joking, but half being serious,” Nahapetian said in relation to his Instagram bio. “I thought people would eventually realise that, you know, I’m a real boy.”
Nahapetian also recently shared a TikTok of himself in his bedroom to prove he’s a real person.
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