Abhiroop Das
In Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington’, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic triggers a domino effect that turns the life of every resident of the eponymous town upside down. As the rules around health and safety begin to tighten, it is ironically the County Sheriff, Joe Cross, who stands up in opposition. He finds stiff resistance in the form of Ted Garcia, the mayor, and before long, the entire town is split into two camps. This marks the beginning of a slow collapse of the town’s established sociopolitical and moral infrastructure, as many are forced to come to terms with the drastic changes that the year 2020 has brought to their lives. This western drama movie is equal parts black comedy and horror, and hardly anything embodies this dichotomy better than Joe’s journey from start to finish. While he initially sets out to change Eddington for good, things quickly get out of control and end up revealing a harrowing portrait of the modern human.
Joe Cross is Likely Based on the Sheriff of Torrance County in New Mexico
The sheriff of Sevilla County, Joe Cross, is possibly the fictionalized version of David E. Frazee, the sheriff of Torrance County, New Mexico. While writer-director Ari Aster adds his own spin to the character, the broader parallels between Joe and Frazee are undeniable and easily demonstrable. To begin with, Frazee is listed in the final credits of the movie as a special thanks, along with Nathan Dial, the mayor of Estancia, a town in Torrance County. This likely ties into Aster’s interview with Variety, where he mentioned that a portion of ‘Eddington’ is inspired by a real-life stand-off between a sheriff and a mayor. The director explained that the sheriff he referenced reigns over a “vast county with a small population,” and this description also holds true for Torrance County, which is located near the regions where the movie was filmed, specifically Albuquerque and Truth or Consequences.
Aster further recalled how the real-life sheriff, whom Joe is based on, actually came to the set numerous times to consult, which is the most likely explanation for David E. Frazee’s name appearing in the end credits. The director continued, “Joe Cross is based on that man (the sheriff), even his wardrobe. I flew back out to New Mexico so that Joaquin could meet him and a few other people that I really liked, and we spent a day just driving around the county with the sheriff.” The point that Joe’s fashion choice is modeled after a real-life figure is another indication that Frazee is the inspiration, as his iconic outfit includes a similar shirt, cowboy hat, and belt phone holder to those worn by Joe. Although it is possible that the overlap in their appearance is coincidental, the rest of the unique details in Frazee’s life make his connection to Joe all the more apparent.
Joe Cross’s Real-Life Inspirations Help Bring Out His Grayer Shades
While talking to Variety, Aster explained that the sheriff he referenced had a “very passionate, long-standing feud” with the mayor, and one of their major disagreements was the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, including mask mandates. In real life, Frazee has publicly spoken against mask mandates, which further strengthens his position as the most likely inspiration for Joe’s character. In the movie, Joe is strongly against the mandate and builds an entire mayoral campaign around relaxing the COVID-19 restrictions. Although this particular plot thread cannot be traced back to Frazee, his conflict with Mayor Nathan Dial is well-documented. Reportedly, in September 2024, Dial claimed that Frazee had threatened to arrest him, which aligns vaguely with Aster’s description of his two reference points. However, the dynamic between Joe and Ted Garcia is deeply connected to the context of the story, and thus, its similarity with real life is largely superficial.
Although Frazee appears to be the most likely basis for Joe, the latter’s arc in the movie is entirely written by Ari Aster. To that end, while the sheriff may have played a formative role in the development of the character, much of what Joe does and stands for in the story is tied to a broader network of themes and sociopolitical talking points. Given that Ari’s research led him to interview numerous sheriffs in New Mexico, specifically about their reaction to the year 2020 and its series of radical changes in lifestyle and popular thought, a case can be made for Joe being a composite of many perspectives packed into one complex psyche. Actor Joaquin Phoenix, who essays the role, stated that his rendition of Joe was based on months of experimentation, be it with his voice, dialect, or fashion choices. As such, Joe is in equal parts the result of a series of thoughtful and creative decisions by the team behind ‘Eddington.’
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