Eddington follows the story of a small-town sheriff at odds with a social media-savvy mayor over COVID-era masking mandates — with their public spat soon devolving into a mini-war.

Joaquin Phoenix couldn't figure out his Eddington character, Joe Cross, until director Ari Aster did something that inadvertently unlocked the role for him.

In Ari Aster’s dark comedy, Joaquin Phoenix plays the sheriff of a New Mexico town riven by political clashes and pandemic anxieties.

A24 is known for its prestige arthouse films, but in its early days as a distributor, it made most of its money from elevated horror films like Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Midsommar. Over a decade in, the ambitions of A24 and Aster have expanded beyond genre film. But for both, the more recent results have been mixed.

Eddington will only available to watch in a movie theater, when it opens in the U.S. in theaters on Friday, July 18. You can find a showing near you via Fandango. The Eddington movie is not yet available to watch online or on streaming.

The first and maybe only true jump scare in Ari Aster’s “Eddington” comes right at the start. A barefoot old man trudges down the center of a road running through an empty Western town. He’s ranting and incoherently raving as he climbs a craggy hill silhouetted against a twilight sky. He gazes, or maybe glares, out at the town below.

He's collaborated with everyone from David Fincher to the Safdies, but the Iranian-born cinematographer, most recently of "Eddington," wants them all to feel like family.