Kinds of Kindness

Yorgos Lanthimos: Kinds of Kindness (IE/GB/US/GR 2024) with Margaret Qualley (Vivian), Jesse Plemons (Robert) and Willem Dafoe (Robert) in the first episode: "The Death of R.M.F."

Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos promoting Kinds of Kindness (IE/GB/US/GR 2024).

Kinds of Kindness (Finland).

    IE/GB/US/GR © 2024 Searchlight Pictures. Searchlight Pictures presents - in association with Film4 and TSG Entertainment - an Element Pictures Production - a Yorgos Lanthimos film. P: Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kasia Malipan.

    D: Yorgos Lanthimos. SC: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou. DP: Robbie Ryan - negative: 35 mm - black and white and colour - scope 2.39:1. PD: Anthony Gasparro, Cost: Jennifer Johnson. Make-up: Jessica Needham. Hair: Jennifer Serio. M: Jerskin Fendrix. ED: Yorgos Mavropsaridis. Casting: Dixie Chassay.

    C: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Hunter Schafer. The actors play multiple roles.

    Soundtrack: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart) perf. Eurythmics.

    Loc: New Orleans (Louisiana).

    164 min

    Festival premiere: 17 May 2024 Cannes.

    Finnish premiere: 5 July 2024 - distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Finland - Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Hannele Vahtera.

    Viewed at Finnkino Kinopalatsi 7, Helsinki, 17 Aug 2024.

Anthology film with three episodes: 1) The Death of R.M.F., 2) R.M.F. Is Flying, 3) R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich. The same actors act in each, playing different characters.

Tagline: "Everybody's looking for something".

Cannes 2024 official: "KINDS OF KINDNESS is a triptych fable, following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader."

Cannes 2024 official by Tarik Khaldi, published on 17.5.2024: "Only a few months after the release of Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos joins the Competition with Kinds of Kindness. Could this be the film that will earn him the Palme d’or after his Jury Prize for The Lobster in 2015, and his Best Screenplay award for The Killing of a Sacred Deer in 2017?"

"A new fable by Yorgos Lanthimos, Kinds of Kindness juxtaposes three quests. A man who seeks control of his life, a policeman who finds his wife lost at sea and doesn’t recognize her, and a woman in search of a person with exceptional power."

"Written with his long-time partner Efthimis Filippou, the plot is served by a cast that is, to say the least, prestigious. All three stories are starred by the same actors. Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley and Willem Dafoe are back by the director’s side, along with Jesse Plemons, Mamoudou Athie, and Hunter Schafer."

"In Kinds of Kindness, the director continues his exploration of free will and conformism: “It’s interesting to observe how humans think they control things or are free to decide on them, while once they have this freedom, they find it difficult to manage.”"

"This latest film marks another milestone in the unstoppable rise of Yorgos Lanthimos.  In 2010, his career changed directions with Canine, which won the Prix Un Certain Regard, and showed the world the quirky aesthetic and gritty tone of the Greek weird wave, the movement of which he was the figurehead."

"In the years that followed, he left Greece to create his own style, sometimes disturbing, always fascinating. There, he attracted the best performers (Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Emma Stone), and developed every aspect of his art, winning four Oscars for Poor Things last March." (Cannes 2024 official)

AA: Following The Favourite and Poor Things, this is the third feature in the collaboration of Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone (there is also a short called Bleat). With superstar Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man, La La Land) Lanthimos has access to lavish budgets, and with Lanthimos, Stone gets to play the wildest roles imaginable.

I am still digesting Poor Things, a "too much" film both in transgression and visual excess. Too much can become boring, but I found Poor Things controlled.

Lanthimos pursues a novel absurdism. Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness are nightmare movies and can be seen as horror movies. Although Poor Things channels Frankenstein, it is not a simple genre movie. In the realm of horror, Lanthimos breaks new ground.

He pursues a new aspect of the macabre. What I have not digested yet is the element of callousness. The most disturbing scenes and schemes are displayed in a matter-of-fact way, without emotion. Like in a weird dream, perhaps. Or is this about trivialization, any shock turning gratuitous, in defense mechanisms against atrocity? Like in The Zone of Interest? (It could equally be called The Zone of Disinterest).

A test pilot project. Pushing the limits. Transcending boundaries. Exploring new transgressions. The acte gratuit: the meaninglessness as the point. There is no incitation, motivation or reason. Absurdity as the test of free will.

In the centenary year of surrealism, let's register Yorgos Lanthimos as a major contemporary surrealist.

Great performances, terrific cinematography by Robbie Ryan (the DCP has been created from a 35 mm negative). Yorgos Lanthimos knows what he is doing, but I need to learn to make sense of it.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: DATA FROM THE PRESS KIT:

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: DATA FROM THE PRESS KIT:

Searchlight Pictures presents

In Association with Film4 and TSG Entertainment

An Element Pictures Production

A Yorgos Lanthimos Film

Emma Stone

Jesse Plemons

Willem Dafoe

Margaret Qualley

Hong Chau

Joe Alwyn

Mamoudou Athie

Hunter Schafer

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Written by Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou

Produced by Ed Guiney, p.g.a., Andrew Lowe, p.g.a., Yorgos Lanthimos,  p.g.a., Kasia Malipan, p.g.a.

Director of Photography Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC

Production Designer Anthony Gasparro

Costume Designer Jennifer Johnson

Make-up Department Head Jessica Needham

Hair Department Head Jennifer Serio

Music by Jerskin Fendrix

Edited by Yorgos Mavropsaridis, ACE, BFE

Casting Director Dixie Chassay

Select Cannes Screenings will be in 35 mm 

Run time: 164 mins

KINDS OF KINDNESS is a triptych fable, following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

Searchlight Pictures presents, KINDS OF KINDNESS, directed by Academy Award® nominee Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, The Favourite, The Lobster, Dogtooth) and written by Academy Award® nominee Efthimis Filippou (The Lobster, The Killing of the Sacred Deer, Dogtooth) and Lanthimos. Starring two-time Academy Award® winner Emma Stone (Poor Things, La La Land), Academy Award® nominee Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog), Academy Award® nominee Willem Dafoe (Poor Things, The Florida Project), Margaret Qualley (Poor Things, “Maid”), Academy Award® nominee Hong Chau (The Whale, The Menu), Mamoudou Athie (“Black Box”), Joe Alwyn (The Favourite), and Hunter Schafer (‘Euphoria’), the film is produced by Element Pictures’ Ed Guiney (Poor Things, The Favourite) and Andrew Lowe (Poor Things), Kasia Malipan (Poor Things), and Lanthimos.  

Joining behind the camera are Academy Award® nominated director of photography Robbie Ryan (Poor Things, The Favourite), production designer Anthony Gasparro (First Cow), costume designer Jennifer Johnson (I, Tonya), makeup department head Jessica Needham (First Cow, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), hair department head Jennifer Serio (First Cow, ‘Saturday Night Live’), Academy Award® nominated editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis (Poor Things, The Favourite), with music by Academy Award® nominated composer Jerskin Fendrix (Poor Things). 

 

“Sometimes you just need to be ridiculous in order to achieve what we’re trying to achieve”.

- Yorgos Lanthimos

Academy Award® nominated director, writer, and producer, Yorgos Lanthimos, has previously collaborated with co-writer Efthimis Filippou on multiple Greek and English language projects, including Dog Tooth, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and The Lobster, which earned them both an Academy Award® nomination for best original screenplay.

The idea for KINDS OF KINDNESS had taken on multiple narrative forms over the years, eventually evolving into an anthology.  “We had started out with one story, but as we were working on it, we thought that it might be interesting to make a film that has a different structure to what we had done before,” Lanthimos explains. “As we identified the subsequent stories, we wanted to keep a thematic thread, so it felt as if it all belonged under the same umbrella.”

Lanthimos admits that both him and Filippou have a very similar sensibility when it comes to writing. “We’re able to build upon each other’s ideas,” he continues. “If one of us comes up with a story, the other person can find elements to make it more interesting, or more complex. That works really well for us and that’s why we keep working together.”

Adds Filippou, “Our main concern is to observe people, behaviours, clothes and reactions and create a story that relates to something almost real and relatively believable. Our process throughout the years is the same: back and forths of drafts, mutual trust, disagreements, and mutual trust once more.” 

During the writing process, Lanthimos had sent the script to his frequent collaborator Academy Award® winner Emma Stone, who was immediately fascinated by the project.

Says Stone, “I loved the script and how it developed into a triptych. The stories weave together in a way that is not necessarily clear but capitalises on what has come before. I thought the prospect was really exciting.”

There were challenges, as Lanthimos admits, specifically with time constraints – but he was excited to explore this. “With a feature film that only has one story, the audience can engage more actively because there is room to think about what is happening and apply your own logic,” he explains. “With an anthology, you bring whatever you’ve been thinking about from the first story into the next. It is more complex and more engaging. Different people identify different themes, which is a hugely interesting structure.” 

Having just completed principal photography on the four-time Academy® award-winning Poor Things, Lanthimos took advantage of the lengthy post-production process to move forward with KINDS OF KINDNESS.  Producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures, who have produced all of Lanthimos’ English language films, saw this as a more straightforward project, differing from the period setting.

“On the face of it, this felt like a less complicated film because it is location based, with natural lighting and contemporary costumes,” says Guiney. “We took a chunk of time from the Poor Things post-production process and went off and made this reasonably quickly.”

Adds Lowe, “We have a number of projects in development with Yorgos at any one time, and he felt KINDS OF KINDNESS was ready and the next one up. A window opened up and Yorgos focused on editing while we turned our attention to figuring out how we shoot for a budget, and where.”

Lanthimos was also pleased to return to a simpler form of filmmaking, not relying on studio builds and extensive lighting, stating, “It was a huge weight off our shoulders, notwithstanding the other usual complications that come with filmmaking. It felt good to be able to go around and look at locations, not having to think that things need to be built from scratch.”

Previously titled ‘RMF’ and then ‘AND,’ Lanthimos realised the practical issues with these names so instead looked for something more polysemic. He shares, “I was looking for words that have more than one meaning. Given the context of the film, and that the same actors play different characters in each story, I wanted a title that made sense and looked and sounded right.”

For Guiney, the title is meant to be intriguing, offering multiple different viewpoints. As he states, “It could read as different ways of how people are kind to each other. It’s a playful title and one that took a while to settle on, but it is certainly thought-provoking and will have people scratching their heads in a good way coming out of the cinema.”

“One of the most exciting things about these stories 

is that people find that it reflects what’s going on within them”.

- Emma Stone

THE DEATH OF R.M.F.

THE RULE OF THREE

Once completing the screenplay with Filippou and during the production process, Lanthimos had the idea that the same actors should play a different character in each story, to build a sense of familiarity for the audience. 

Initially, he wanted each character to be very visually different from one another. However, he decided against that, noting, “The more we thought about it, the more we didn’t want it to become a gimmick. We decided to have these subtle differences – with hair and makeup, and in their behaviour and mannerisms – from one character to the next. They’re very different stories and characters, so that in itself makes them stand out. Having the same actor go from one story to the next adds a sense of continuation on a subconscious level. It was more about the actors changing speed and energy than anything else.”

Guiney notes that, despite the stories involving different characters, there is a sense that they take place in the same world: “Each story has a distinct narrative, but they all kind of live in the same universe. It’s familiar in some ways, most notably the strange and unfamiliar behaviour of the characters.”

Upon discovering the three-story narrative, Jesse Plemons, who plays the roles of Robert, Daniel, and Andrew, admits he tried to look to other forms of media for reference, but fell short. 

Plemons shares, “I was trying to watch some films for inspiration, but I had the most difficult time finding any sort of reference, anything that felt like it was anywhere close to this world. It feels like a new territory, not only for a film, but for Yorgos. It’s really bizarre, with really interesting writing and character dynamics.”

Joe Alwyn, who plays Collectibles Appraise Man 1, Jerry, and Joseph, recalls his initial conversations with Lanthimos regarding the structure of the film: “Reading the script, it almost felt like a return to some of his earlier films – a more contemporary world where he plays around with reality. It’s both reality and it’s not.”

Lanthimos preferred the actors to come up with their own ideas, as Hong Chau, who plays Sarah, Sharon, and Aka, confirms. She adds, “Yorgos explained that the stories were loosely connected and that the small company of actors would play different characters in each one. He wasn’t looking for us to make any sort of dramatic, impressive changes. It was certainly intriguing.”

 A COMMON THREAD

The themes of KINDS OF KINDNESS are prevalent throughout, specifically those of power, control, free will, and the dynamics of human relationships. Explains Lowe, “A lot of Yorgos’ work explores how people live their lives according to their own rules and those of society or a higher authority. These themes are often taken to absurd (but darkly funny) heights and that is certainly the case in KINDS OF KINDNESS.”

“The stories play with the notions of faith and trust in human relationships,” notes Guiney. “They are set in a non-specific place, one that is sort of removed from our own, which heightens our interest. Yorgos and Efthimis’ films always deal with the power dynamics in human relationships, using the behaviour of the characters to force us to think about our own lives and relationships, and what we believe to be true.”

“It’s about faith and the lack of it. Love and the lack of it. Our beloved ones and the lack of them,” continues Filippou. 

A specific theme that Lanthimos was keen to examine throughout the three stories was that of authority and how free will fluctuates, along with one’s struggle between the freedom of choice and the freedom from choice. 

“I think it’s interesting to observe how one might think they have control over things or that they’re free to decide things,” Lanthimos states. “Then, when they are given the absolute freedom, it’s hard for them to deal with it and navigate it. It’s a microcosm of real life, and how people who seem to have no power at all are in control of people that might seem much stronger.”

For Margaret Qualley, who plays the roles of Vivian, Martha, and twins Ruth and Rebecca, the theme of control was extremely prevalent, and the film questions how far people will go to feel a sense of belonging.

“One of the things we’re exploring is that of people wanting to be in control – how far will people go to fit in?”, she observes. “There are various facets, including controlling your own life, controlling other people’s lives, feeling controlled by someone else, and trying to find control.”

Stone, who plays Rita, Liz, and Emily, agrees with this, noting the motif through all three of her characters and the stories they appear in: “The characters are totally different in many ways, but the throughline I found is this balance between wanting to be loved, accepted, and controlled, and also wanting to be free and in charge of yourself, but then losing love because of that.”

Plemons noted that, upon developing his characters, there were themes of safety and security, and the usual dynamics where that takes place. “The stories illuminate the constructs that we put ourselves in to make us feel safe and secure, even though it’s not always true,” he elaborates. “The first story is this odd, almost father and son relationship. The second one is safety in marriage and in home. Then, the third has to do with the security that faith provides. Some of Yorgos’ characters feel like their own islands, desperately trying to reach each other. It’s awkward and uncomfortable and tragic and funny.”

As Robert, in the first story, Plemons notes how the power dynamics shift and develop: “Once Robert is set free from Raymond, there is this weird, almost teenage like freedom that he has where he can do whatever he wants. Then, like most teenagers, you come crawling back to your parents, realising that the world is much bigger and scarier than you thought.”

Mamoudou Athie, who plays Will, Neil, and the morgue nurse, agrees with this, stating that the elements of control are purposely undermined and challenged: “The characters of Raymond and Robert have this strange, dominant-submissive relationship, which is taken to the extreme. Ultimately, this is the same with the second story between Daniel and Liz. Then, with the cult, there is the same atmosphere.” 

Willem Dafoe, who plays Raymond, George and Omi, summarizes how Lanthimos subverts classic themes and transposes them onto a different dynamic. “Yorgos takes the dynamics of a sentimental relationship, like a marriage, and puts them onto a business relationship with two men. It lets us see the social conventions that we have grown to accept in a different context,” he explains. “It gives an objectivity and a distance that really makes you see things in a different light. You can see the ironies and the blindness. Sometimes we accept certain conventions because they are handed down to us from society.”

“It is all about the human condition and human behaviour.  

It’s about identity, and control, and wanting to belong, wanting to be free”.

- Yorgos Lanthimos

R.M.F. IS FLYING

THE TRIPTYCH

KINDS OF KINDNESS was a unique opportunity to work with an ensemble cast in an unusual anthology, where its overarching throughline allowed each actor to weave their characters together across its three stories. 

Being able to watch Lanthimos and his cast was a great joy, specifically for Guiney and Lowe who witnessed another collaboration between Stone and Lanthimos. When describing their relationship, Guiney notes that they are very keen to push each other, wanting to create the best output: “There’s a huge trust there and they’re both adventurers. They want to push the boundaries of what they are doing, but together. There’s a great security for them in knowing that they’re doing it together.”

Lanthimos finds it difficult to explain why he loves working with Stone, acknowledging that it largely boils down to the fact that they enjoy each other’s company. “We just get along and working together is not a chore. There are so many things that we can just get on with, without having to analyse, discuss or argue about it,” Lanthimos shares. “We also have this experience now and we can keep building on it, trying to go further each time we make something. We just love working together. It’s as simple as that.”

The film also reunites Lanthimos, Stone, and Guiney with Dafoe – someone who, as Lanthimos states, simply loves the art of filmmaking. Dafoe has always been admired for his balance of professionalism and sense of humour.  Lanthimos adds, “Willem loves being on set. He’s the first one that comes in and the last one that goes. He just loves being involved and engaged.” 

“Something Yorgos seems to factor in his cast is wanting to bring together not only talented people who are right for the part, but nice people,” explains Plemons, who was appreciative of the ensemble’s talent as a whole. “It really is a great group.” 

Lanthimos admits he had been following Plemons’ career for a while, and he was someone that he always wanted to work with, so he was pleased when their paths crossed on this project. 

Says Lanthimos of Plemons, “I think he is one of the greatest actors working today. He has an incredible sense of humour and gets the tone really well. He’s very hardworking, and it’s extraordinary in how he subtly changes from one character to the next. He’s always up for trying different things.”

Dafoe notes his sincerity and dedication to the craft: “Alongside Emma, Jesse is the workhorse on this project. He’s very detailed and he prepares a lot. He’s young, but he’s been doing this a long time. He has this professionalism that isn’t an ‘I got this’ style of professionalism. It remains a point of curiosity and play.”

Seeing the preparation that Chau brought to the role, and how she employed it across the three stories, was also very pleasing for Lanthimos. “Hong is an incredible actress. In the last story, it was incredible to see her playing this leader alongside Willem. I just love the seriousness with which she approaches her characters, which makes it even more funny,” Lanthimos explains. 

Having collaborated with Joe Alwyn on The Favourite, Lanthimos was eager to reunite with him, gifting him with a range of contrasting characters. He plays this very small part of an English geezer in the first story, then a funny part in the second where he is shot in the hand, and in the final story, he plays quite a tricky character. Being friends in real life, Stone acknowledges that this helped, especially in the final story. She shares, “I love Joe. We had to do some pretty dark stuff on this one, so it was extremely comforting to be with him because he’s one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet.” 

With KINDS OF KINDNESS, Lanthimos was grateful to be able to offer Qualley a more substantial role following Poor Things. Of the actress, he notes, “Margaret is someone else that I like working with. We’ve become friends over the years and were discussing what we’d like to do next, and this film provided that opportunity. She’s a great actress and has a very physical approach. It is a way that I love working with actors, especially when we rehearse.”

“One thing that’s unique about the atmosphere of this set is that everyone stays around for the whole scene, whereas sometimes on different productions, once you’re not needed, you’re gone,” Qualley shares about her experience with the rest of the cast. “There’s so much respect because everyone’s really eager to be there, and that kind of sets this movie apart from others.”

COLLABORATING WITH YORGOS

Having worked with Lanthimos on four projects now, Guiney has a deep understanding of the way that he works and how he draws the performances out of his actors.

“The thing about Yorgos’ sets is that they’re very joyful places. He really encourages an improvisational quality in terms of how actors approach characters,” Guiney describes. “He encourages the impulses of an actor, rather than partaking in deep discussion and motivations. As producers, we try and do what we can to create an environment where we can more or less leave them to it – let them play and figure out what they are doing.”

Lanthimos is an advocator for the rehearsal process, utilizing it as a way for actors to feel comfortable amongst each other, and not to drill down into characters.

“Most actors enjoy getting into the way that I like to rehearse, because it’s mostly just having fun, playing games, and doing exercises,” Lanthimos explains. “We didn’t have the opportunity to do as much rehearsal on this film, but it is a great way for me to connect with actors and for actors to connect with each other.”

Dafoe elaborates on this, noting that they never rehearse the actual scenes, instead allowing people to overcome the barriers of awkwardness and feel like they can express themselves freely. “We really try to make ourselves a company of actors. Yorgos is very clever with theatre games, ensuring that everyone in the room gets to know each other. Once that is done, you feel a sense of trust and a shared sense of humour. It encourages people to do things out of the ordinary. He has a talent for bringing people together, playing to their strengths and protecting their weaknesses.”

For Plemons, who had never worked with Lanthimos before, there was a sense of ambiguity when discussing the character with him. He elaborates, “I don’t think I’ve ever discussed a character or script less than with Yorgos. It became obvious, early on, that he wasn’t going to give me a straight answer. Once you accept that, it opens everything up. There are a hundred possible doors you can walk through.”

He notes that the rehearsal process allowed him to forgo dissecting his character and scenes too much, instead focusing on the atmosphere: “It was helpful to be there with Willem and Emma and watch how they went about it. The whole purpose of it took some of the reverence away, allowing us to feel lost and confused, which forced us to build some camaraderie and trust.”

He continues, “Yorgos is way off in his own dimension. I knew that this would be a completely isolated, standalone experience, as his films are. It hasn’t been what I expected, in the best way. Some of his films seem very controlled, operating on these sets of rules that confine characters. This one, in some ways, feels much more experimental and it’s been a lot of fun playing around.”

As a fan of Lanthimos’ previous work, Chau had an idea of what she was getting into, which was reinforced when she read the script. She notes, “For some reason I had the instinct that Yorgos was not an analytical type of director. His work leaves a lot for the subconscious to play with and work out for itself. It didn’t make sense to connect the dots because he’s not that kind of artist. Watching his films, the beauty of them is that you’re living in a dream state, and it would be simplistic and unsatisfying to dissect them.”

Athie was tremendously excited to work with Lanthimos, describing him as one of the most inventive directors out there: “The thing that I love about him is that he leaves it all out there – he’s not hedging any bets or playing it safe. It’s fascinating, and he does it all with a great amount of respect for the people he’s working with.”

“One of the things that makes Yorgos one of the most gifted and exciting directors working in cinema today is his ability to draw out extraordinary and powerful performances from his cast,” says Lowe. “They are inevitably an eclectic ensemble of brilliant actors that only he could have thought to put together.” 

“Collaborating with Yorgos is always thought provoking,” confirms casting director Dixie Chassay, who has worked with Lanthimos on multiple films and shorts. "KINDS OF KINDNESS was unusual in that we had the core cast and needed to determine how they crossed over into subsequent stories, characters and roles, and then figure out the additional cast to an existing company.”

Lanthimos always incorporates non-actors into his films, he calls it ‘street casting’.  Explains Lowe, “In practice it is quite hard to do it well and Hayley Williams, our amazing First AD took it upon herself to pound the pavement in New Orleans to find suitable street cast to compliment the work done by our local casting agents.”

However there were challenges with COVID at the time which led production to turn to its crew for many of its additional roles including the police officer, barman, doctors, and more.  “It was hard to navigate and this developed out of limitations, but it’s often where great things spring from,” Chassay adds. 

“It arguably adds real depth and texture to the world he is creating,” Lowe concludes.

“The story is Yorgos’ very specific world, and he has a gift for tricking you into seeing things that you can’t normally see. And that there’s magic to that”.

- Willem Dafoe

R.M.F. EATS A SANDWICH

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Fresh from projects with expansive sets and remarkable costumes and prosthetics, Lanthimos was excited to approach KINDS OF KINDNESS in a different way, focusing on more nuanced and subtle choices for the film’s visual style. 

As he comments, “This film is more contemporary, which makes it simpler in a way. There were a lot of conversations about the way we wanted to film it, resulting in something different and more straightforward.”

Production designer Anthony Gasparro reveals that he received an email out of the blue for a potential project with Lanthimos, which was followed by a Zoom call with the filmmaker. Gasparro reflects on the initial conversation, saying: “Yorgos has a casualness to everything. I remember talking about Olivia Colman in Broadchurch more than anything work-related. We never discussed the content or anything visually, it was about getting to know each other and our respective processes. It was very exciting to work with someone in that way.”

Filmed on location in New Orleans, Lanthimos and the creative team wanted somewhere that could be a nameless city – somewhere that blends into the background in an unobtrusive way. As Guiney recalls, “The film is set in an anonymous American city. We weren’t particularly interested in representing a specific one.”

Lanthimos agrees, stating that it had to be somewhere that had the assets that the narrative required, “We felt that the story was American, but then there are so many logistical aspects to it. One was that we were looking for a place with a big lake, and a lake house. On top of that, there were other incentives such as weather, and the general feel and aesthetic of where we are. New Orleans is not an important part of the story, it’s just the general atmosphere that we took advantage of.”

Gasparro remembers scouting locations for the lake house, noting that other locations would fall around that. As he recalls, “The deciding location was the lake house because of its importance in the script and the geography of the house being on the lake. There was never any set decision to have one story have a specific palette or a certain visual tone. It all came together as we found each place.”

For the cast, filming in New Orleans added to the atmosphere of the process. As Qualley remarks, “I would say that New Orleans is almost a no man’s land, it’s not like any other place in the United States. It’s culturally unique and perhaps you could say the same about the atmosphere of this film and the world at large.”

In terms of the sets, specifically the more integral ones such as the lake house, and Raymond’s house, Lanthimos wanted them to be indulgent but slightly distorted.

“They’re both quite different. I think the lake house is a more decadent, rich house that this group of people have turned into a commune of sorts,” Lanthimos explains. “Then, there’s Raymond’s house, who is a very powerful, rich man with great taste and a love for nice things. Both of those were interesting to design and come up with.”

For Gasparro, the lake house brought a rich backstory to his work. “I created a story in mind that someone had built it in the late 80s or early 90s, and then they just left, and it was abandoned,” he shares. “Then, this cult came in and took over and repurposed it. It became this strange ceremonial house where they put all the good furniture to the side and kept adding in more bunk beds.”

COSTUME DESIGN

Costume designer Jennifer Johnson had previously worked with Lanthimos on NIMIC, a short film in 2017, and enjoyed the creative freedom that he provided.

Describing how she boarded the project, Johnson shares, “I got the call that he was interested in speaking with me when I was on holiday in Sweden. I read the script as many times as I could, trying to absorb as much as possible. Once I returned home, I dove headfirst into research. That’s when Yorgos and I really began a visual dialogue, sending each other references. He gives you the information you need and lets you run with it, which is terrifying, exciting, and exhilarating at the same time. I really enjoyed that process.”

For this project, Johnson was keen not to reference any other movies, as she felt as that would take away from Lanthimos’ vision. As she clarifies, “I did a more forensic dive into news footage and utilized magnum photographers. I also looked at Alice Neel, who is a great portrait artist. Sometimes, I looked at abstractions to boil down a mood or a psychological state. This movie is so much about control and psychology, so utilizing traditional methods of research wasn’t always so helpful.”

Johnson was also excited about the prospect of collaborating with the cast, working together to delve into their characters and how they present themselves through their costumes. Explains Alwyn, “It was really nice and collaborative. Jennifer is brilliant, she very much wanted it to be a conversation and a process of finding each person together.”

Johnson reveals that Stone brought a great level of physicality to the costumes, sharing, “Emma is not worried about vanity or being pretty. She is very interested in the character itself, and how they move. I brought my ideas to the table, and she really ran with it. She brings great physical attributes to the character. I always say that she’d be a great silent film actress because of how physically present she is.”

As Johnson confirms, Lanthimos really loved to hear the ideas that came from the actors regarding their costumes. She reveals that the orange speedo that Dafoe wears was his idea.

“Yorgos invites a lot of experimentation and sense of humour into the work that we do. This group of particular actors were so incredible – they immediately bypassed any discomforts they might have. With Willem, he saw the orange speedo and said ‘What’s that? Let’s go.’ There’s no vanity there – he’s just so willing to go with anything,” Johnson elaborates.

Lanthimos commends Johnson’s work on the film, stating that she brought a lot of references and knowledge to impart into the characters. 

“Jennifer is so subtle about what she does. For Willem’s character in the first story, a lot of what he wears was based on Agnelli, who was a very prominent fashion figure from the 70s. We would look to references like that and then apply them to the different characters and try and evolve them from one story to the next,” he says of Johnson’s work. 

Guiney agrees, noting that for this film where actors play multiple characters, utilising costume really helped the cast understand who they were playing. He adds, “Jennifer is a genius. She’s a great collaborator and allowed the actors a lot of space to help shape their characters. In a movie like this, where you have actors playing three different characters, that becomes an even more important role.”

HAIR AND MAKE-UP

Jennifer Serio, the hair department head, was a big fan of Lanthimos’ previous films and knew that he always put a lot of thought into the aesthetic. “It’s Yorgos, so I knew it was going to be cool and amazing,” she shares. “I love that you don’t know what you’re going to get with his stories. So, I was always ready for the ride.”

With hair and make-up, Lanthimos was keen for there not to be huge differences between how the characters look in each story. As he elaborates, “Both Jessica [Needham] and Jennifer really got on board with understanding that we didn’t want disguises for the actors, and that instead we find elements that would identify them as different. But it could be the same person, just with different hair.”

Early on the process, when Serio and Lanthimos were chatting about how they wanted the characters to look, Lanthimos revealed that he is not a big fan of wigs – something that Serio was not expecting. As she elaborates, “Yorgos doesn’t like artifice. I come from a world where my first instinct is, ‘Let’s get a lot of wigs.’ But he said, ‘No, that’s not how we’re going to do it.’ So, it was fun to try and figure out how to use what the actors have and enhance it. The actors let us do whatever we needed to. They were pretty incredible about it.”

Recalls Stone, “I had just come from another project, and my hair was completely fried. So we were like, ‘okay, we need to get it healthier.' And we died it blonde, and we chopped it off. It’s all been our real hair, which is a daunting prospect, especially for a hair and makeup team that hasn’t worked with Yorgos before. I think they did an unbelievable job and it’s been really fun building this together.”

Regarding Plemons, Serio reveals that they had to plan his looks so that each character was recognizable, without having to over-enhance each look.

“When Jesse came in, he had been growing his hair out, so we did this pompadour look with little quiffs at the front,” Serio confirms. “Then, for the second character, where he was playing a cop, we had to do something different but still ensure that we had enough to play with for his final character, Daniel. I remember, after he had finished playing Robert, we had to turn around another look in twelve hours, so just decided to cut it and colour it. Then, when changing from Daniel to Andrew, we quickly made the decision that we would buzz it all off.”

Working closely alongside Serio was makeup department head Jessica Needham. As this is not the first time they have worked together, Serio reveals that their collaboration was easy.

“We’ve done a lot of projects together,” she shares. “We bounce off each other and come up with ideas so well. We sat down and made our look book together, which we then presented to everyone. We don’t mind being lumped together because I need to know what she’s doing, and she needs to know what I’m doing. We collaborate well together.”

Needham confirms this, noting that it was great to combine references and ideas with Serio, as well as Lanthimos and the cast: “We pieced together all these images, whether it was a colour palette for the hair and makeup, or just general references. With each character, we conversed with Yorgos and presented what we had come up with. Sometimes, he disagreed and brought completely different ideas to the table, which was a lot of fun. The actors had a lot to do with it too – there were a lot of opinions.”

Needham acknowledges that the willingness of the cast really helped her experiment with ideas, working together to combine various sources of inspiration. She recounts about her experience working with Stone, “She was super engaged. We didn’t know who these characters were until we started making suggestions and bringing opinions. Initially, we didn’t know what Liz was going to look like, but I said, ‘What if we did a pass with freckles?’ Emma loved it – she’s game for anything. It’s so lovely to play with people like that who are willing to take risks.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY

This project reunites Lanthimos with his The Favourite and Poor Things cinematographer Robbie Ryan, who was nominated for an Academy Award® for both films. 

Throughout the pre-production process, Lanthimos and Ryan discussed using the camera in a different and simpler way than they had in the past. As Lanthimos explains, “With Robbie, we were happy to reset in a way, but still building on what we had done before. Sometimes, that might be changing direction, learning from what had been done. Since we were going to film in a contemporary world, with these three stories, we were going for simplicity as much as we could. It was about finding the simplest way of covering a scene and focusing on its true essence.”

Ryan remembers this being one of the first things that Lanthimos said to him, having come from such a distinctive style of Poor Things: “Yorgos was very keen to try a different sort of language with KINDS OF KINDNESS, he wanted it to be wide-screen and anamorphic. From then on, we pursued testing for that kind of cinematography.”

Alongside the framing techniques, Ryan notes Lanthimos’ penchant for black and white, which in this film is utilized to denote a subsection of reality. As Ryan explains, “The black and white is used when characters are talking about a story, or where there is a dream sequence. It was a nice device to cut to a different world or perspective. I’m looking forward to doing a film with Yorgos that is fully black and white – he loves it.”

Ryan notes that Lanthimos himself is a great cinematographer in his own right, which plays into his overall knowledge of structure, editing, and design. He says of Lanthimos, “I always find that his cinematography sensibilities are way better than most cinematographers, including myself. He has total control of what he can do to make his visual ideas work in the story. He loves to go from a wide shot to a tight shot – like a finger going in a mouth. There’s not much midground, which works well.’

To enhance Lanthimos’ vision, Ryan confirms that they shot on film, describing it as the ‘magic ingredient’ for Lanthimos’ films, bringing out the stunning visual qualities.

“You know what you get when you shoot on film – it will always be something interesting,” Ryan adds. “There is a grainy quality, meaning everything lands great. When you go to the graders, they are always pleased to be working with film. Working on film on a practical level is great because there are less monitors, and it’s more of a simple crew going in.” 

SCORE

KINDS OF KINDNESS marks Jerskin Fendrix’s second outing as a film composer, having cut his teeth on Poor Things, which earned him an Academy Award® nomination. Poor Things was also the first time Lanthimos utilised a composer on one of his films. 

“I love working with Jerskin, and I guess he’s the reason why I am now working with a composer – I’ve found someone that works for me,” Lanthimos confirms. “Jerskin worked on this in the same way he worked on Poor Things, which is before even seeing a frame of the film. I gave him the script and started sending him black and white pictures that I shot on set. Our agreement in the beginning was, ‘This time, I want to use piano and choir, and go down that direction,’ which was very different to Poor Things. When I went into the edit, he had this library of music that he created to work with, and it turned out great.”

This method of working also works for Fendrix, who understands that writing music to exactly match the visuals requires an intense number of technical constraints. Working with Lanthimos provides him with the freedom that he needs, as Fendrix explains, “Luckily, I get the privilege of being given whatever materials Yorgos sees fit for me to see. He genuinely tries to give me as little as possible. I write a large amount of music based on what I feel is appropriate. A part of how I do this involves reading the script a few times, trying to make sure that I’m in a space that allows me a great deal of contemplation. I try and work out what I’m getting from the material and what I think is the music’s responsibility to express.”

Fendrix also reveals that he spoke with Plemons on set about the emotions of the character, which proved very helpful to his process and understanding what gaps the music should fill.

”I was very lucky to go on set at the very beginning of filming, and I asked Jesse about the emotions because I was struggling to understand where so many of these characters were coming from,” Fendrix confesses. “He spoke to me about his interpretation, and how he planned to embody his characters, which was great. I ended up thinking about the abstract space between the emotions and whether that space was empty or noisy. From there, I utilized the piano and choir to explore those spaces.’

“You miss a very big aspect of the human experience if you take yourself too seriously”.

- Yorgos Lanthimos

A throughline for all of Lanthimos’ films, and something that is interpreted differently in each of them, is the use of humour. For Lanthimos, it is an essential aspect of the storytelling process, as it is such an important aspect of human nature.

“I just can’t see it any other way. You can’t get into anything honest and important without also laughing at it in a way,” Lanthimos explains. “It’s impossible to make something that doesn’t have some sense of humour in it, no matter how dark or dramatic it is. The contradiction between the two creates interesting feelings and raises interesting questions.” 

Guiney commends Lanthimos’ ability to play with humour and utilise tone in the most effective way possible, saying, “He has complete control over the tone of his films, so it means a scene can pivot from high comedy to utter violence or tragedy in what feels like a matter of seconds. He can contain all of that tonal variation within a scene, which makes it incredibly stimulating. It keeps the audience on edge, wondering what is going to twist or turn, or how it will resolve itself.”

For Stone, the humour of Lanthimos’ work is what excites her about his projects, and part of the reason that they have collaborated so often. She relates, “Part of why I feel a deep connection to Yorgos and the things he makes is that nothing is straightforward. Even the darkest moments have an inherent comedy in them. It’s something that I feel very strongly about, that whenever I see something that is dramatic or scary, it doesn’t feel true to me because everything is a mixed bag in life.” 

Chau was pleased to be involved in such a unique film – one that will potentially be divisive, generating strong opinions. She discloses, “I’ve watched The Lobster a couple of times with separate groups of friends, and they all have different reactions. That is what is unique about Yorgos’ films. It’s the sign of interesting and fresh work. Whether you can come out of the cinema and say that you liked it or not, doesn’t matter. It’s about having that sort of discussion with yourself about it.”

Alwyn agrees, noting that he felt strong reactions when he read the script, so wants audiences to feel the same. He comments, “There’s a fine line between something that makes you squirm and something that makes you laugh. It’s very hard to try and talk about a Yorgos film in a conventional way.”

Plemons notes that KINDS OF KINDNESS represents the human condition, and a key characteristic of being human is laughing in the face of adversity. 

“This feels like something that only Yorgos and Efthimis could come up with, but it also feels like a different step for them. It’s about the human condition – when we’re doomed, the only thing we can do is laugh,” he concludes. “It’s almost an existential dread type of humour, where there’s a desperation to transcend these human things that you can’t transcend. Oftentimes it comes out funny, because it’s impossible.” 

 

BIOGRAPHIES

ABOUT THE CREW

YORGOS LANTHIMOS – Writer, Director, Producer

Yorgos Lanthimos is an internationally renowned, five-time Academy Award®-nominated director, producer and screenwriter, and the winner of numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe® Award, the Jury Prize in Cannes, and the Golden Lion at Venice. 

His most recent feature film Poor Things, written by Tony McNamara and adapted from Alasdair Gray’s novel, grossed over $115 million at the global box office and won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival, where it world premiered. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards®, including for Lanthimos in Best Picture and Best Director, and won four Oscars including Best Actress for Emma Stone. It was also nominated for 11 BAFTA Awards, winning five; and won two Golden Globes® including Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, among countless prizes. The Searchlight Pictures film marked another in his ongoing artistic partnership with Emma Stone, who also produced the film alongside Lanthimos. Poor Things also stars Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youseff, Jerrod Carmichael, Margaret Qualley, and Christopher Abbott.

He also recently premiered his black-and-white silent short film, Bleat, co-produced by the Greek National Opera and conceived to only ever be screened accompanied by a live classical orchestra, just as it was presented in its world premiere in Athens, Greece and 

U.S. premiere at the 2023 New York Film Festival. Shot on a remote Greek island during the pandemic, Bleat stars Emma Stone as a young widow who embarks on a singularly unclassifiable journey through sex, death, and resurrection. 

Lanthimos’s The Favourite, written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara and starring Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, premiered at the 75th Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Copa Volpi for Best Actress for Olivia Colman’s performance, which also won the Academy Award®. A critically-acclaimed and box office hit, the film received a leading 10 Academy Award® nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Lanthimos as producer and director; 12 BAFTA nominations and seven wins, including Outstanding British Film; plus five Golden Globe® nominations and winner of a record 10 British Independent Film Awards.

He launched to international attention in 2009 with his second feature film, Dogtooth, winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival and nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film. His first English language feature film The Lobster, starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz, was presented in competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize. It earned Lanthimos and co-writer Efthimis Filippou an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His next film, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, also starring Colin Farrell plus Nicole Kidman and Barry Keoghan in his breakthrough role, premiered in competition at the 70th Cannes Film Festival where it was nominated for the Palme d’Or and won Best Screenplay. He directed, produced and co-wrote the film, which received multiple Independent Spirit and European Film Award nominations.  

Born in Athens, Greece, Lanthimos began his career directing several dance videos in collaborations with Greek choreographers, in addition to TV commercials, music videos, short films, and theater plays. His first feature film, Kinetta, premiered at the 2005 Toronto and Berlin Film Festivals to critical acclaim; and Alps, won the Best Screenplay prize at the 2011 Venice Film Festival, and Best Film at the Sydney Film Festival in 2012.

EFTHIMIS FILIPPOU – Writer

Efthimis Filippou is an author, playwright, screenwriter, and journalist. His works for the stage have been presented at the Athens Epidaurus Festival, the Greek National Opera, the National Theatre of Greece, Onassis Stegi, and elsewhere in Greece and beyond. 

His works for the screen have been awarded at such film festivals as Cannes and Venice and nominated at the Oscars. This is his fifth collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos, previous have included Dogtooth, Alps, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

ED GUINEY – Producer

Ed Guiney co-founded film and television production company Element Pictures with Andrew Lowe in 2001. Element has offices in Dublin, Belfast and London and works across film and television production. As Founder and Co-CEO, Guiney oversees the development and production of Element’s film and television slate.

Current and upcoming releases include Yorgos Lanthimos’ Oscar winning Poor Things, which picked up 4 Academy Awards® including Best Actress for Emma Stone, 2 Golden Globes® including Best Picture (comedy or musical) and 5 BATFA’s; Rungano Nyoni’s second feature film, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl and Ariane Labed’s debut feature September Says.

Previous film productions include Stephen Williams’ historical biopic Chevalier, starring Kelvin Harrison (Searchlight Pictures); Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh; Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter and The Souvenir Part II; Phyllida Lloyd’s Herself; Sean Durkin’s The Nest; all of Lenny Abrahamson’s films including the Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and BAFTA winning Room, and The Little Stranger; Yorgos Lanthimos’ English language films The Lobster (Jury Prize, Cannes), The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and BAFTA winning The Favourite.

Recent credits for television include Nancy Harris’ “The Dry 2” and Shane Meadows’ period drama “The Gallows Pole”. Coming soon is an adaption of Jordan Tannahill’s novel “The Listeners” directed by Janicza Bravo and Nancy Harris’ “The Dry” Season 2. Previous TV credits include Nancy Harris’ “The Dry 1” directed by Paddy Breatnach and the adaptations of Sally Rooney’s novels, Normal People and Conversations with Friends, both directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Hulu).

Guiney has been nominated for 3 Oscars for Best Picture for Room, The Favourite and Poor Things and has won 2 BAFTAs and 1 Golden Globe®.

In May 2022, Fremantle announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Element Pictures, marking a new and ambitious phase of growth for Element Pictures.

ANDREW LOWE – Producer

Andrew Lowe co-founded Element Pictures with Ed Guiney in 2001. Element has offices in Dublin, Belfast and London and works across film and television production. As Founder and Co-CEO, his focus is on production and the financing and commercial exploitation of Element’s slate. 

Recent and upcoming film productions which Lowe is a producer on, include Yorgos Lanthimos’ Oscar winning Poor Things, which picked up 4 Academy Awards® including Best Actress for Emma Stone, 2 Golden Globes® including Best Picture (comedy or musical), Rungano Nyoni’s second feature film, On Becoming A Guinea Fowl and Ariane Labed’s debut feature September Says and Akinola Davies directorial debut My Father’s Shadow.

Previous film productions include Stephen Williams’ historical biopic Chevalier, starring Kelvin Harrison (Searchlight Pictures); Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh; Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter and The Souvenir Part II; Phyllida Lloyd’s Herself; Sean Durkin’s The Nest; all of Lenny Abrahamson’s films including the Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and BAFTA winning Room, and The Little Stranger; Yorgos Lanthimos’ English language films The Lobster (Jury Prize, Cannes), The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and BAFTA winning The Favourite.

Lowe’s most recent executive producer credits for television include Nancy Harris’ “The Dry 2”; Shane Meadows’ period drama “The Gallows Pole” and an adaptation of Jordan Tannahill’s book The Listeners directed by Janicza Bravo which will launch later this year. Previous credits include Nancy Harris’ “The Dry 1” and adaptations of Sally Rooney’s novels Conversations with Friends and Normal People, both directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Hulu). 

Before setting up Element Pictures, Lowe, a chartered accountant, freelanced as a production accountant and was Head of Business Affairs at the Irish Film Board. Lowe is Chair of the IBEC (Irish Employers representative body) Audiovisual Federation. 

In May 2022, Fremantle acquired a majority stake in Element Pictures to expand their capacity and continue producing television and film for international audiences.

Lowe is also a director of a distribution company in Ireland, Volta Pictures, as well as the Light House Cinema in Dublin and Pálás Cinema in Galway.

KASIA MALIPAN – Producer

Originally from Poland, Kasia Malipan is a London based film producer, known for her ongoing collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos and Element Pictures.

Her most recent credit Poor Things picked up 4 Academy Awards®, including Best Actress for Emma Stone. Previous coproducer credits include Sean Durkin’s second feature The Nest, as well as Euros Lyn’s Dream Horse and Peter Strickland’s In Fabric.

Malipan graduated from the NFTS in 2011 and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2012 for producing the animated short, Abuelas. After several years of working in production, she joined Film4’s team in 2014 as an in-house Production Manager, working across their wide development slate and numerous film projects in various stages of production. Upon leaving Film4, Malipan used her combined production, finance and business affairs knowledge to pursue her career as a freelance Producer.

ROBBIE RYAN – Director of Photography

Born and raised in Ireland, Robbie Ryan decided to become a cinematographer at the age of 14, when he, his friends and his cousins commandeered one of his father’s Kodak S8 cameras and started making short films. A college course in Cinematography at Dun Laoghaire's CAD fuelled that passion. After finishing the course, Ryan left Ireland and headed to London.

Ryan was nominated for an Academy Award® for his work on Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite for which he also won a British Independent Film Award. His collaboration with Lanthimos continued with the Academy Award® winning Poor Things for which Ryan won the British Society of Cinematographers Award and the Camerimage Audience Award. 

He worked with Noah Baumbach on both The Meyerowitz Stories and Marriage Story and has since shot Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, The Old Oak, and Sally Potter’s The Roads Not Taken. He also shot C’mon C’mon from director Mike Mills, which premiered at the 2021 New York Film Festival.

Some of Ryan’s other award-winning film credits include Red Road, Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights and American Honey directed by Andrea Arnold, Sarah Gavron's Brick Lane, Slow West directed by John Maclean, Catch Me Daddy directed by The Wolfe Brothers, The Angels’ Share, Jimmy’s Hall and I Daniel Blake directed by Ken Loach, Ginger & Rosa directed by Sally Potter, and Philomena directed by Stephen Frears.

Ryan won awards at the Venice Film Festival, Valladolid International Film Festival and Evening Standard British Film Awards for his cinematography on Wuthering Heights. He won a British Independent Film Award for his work on American Honey. He has won numerous 

awards at Camerimage, the Cork International Film Festival, the Irish Film & TV Awards, and the London Critics Circle Film Awards.

Ryan has shot commercials for brands including Adidas, British Airways, Tourism Ireland, Vodafone, San Miguel, Mark & Spencer, Guinness, Mercedes Benz, Eurostar, YSL, Budweiser, and Honda. He also works on music videos for a huge range of artists including Paolo Nutini, Ellie Goulding, Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, Basement Jaxx, Kasabian, Super Furry Animals, Stereophonics, British Rebel Motorcycle Club, Massive Attack, Plan B and Jarvis Cocker.

ANTHONY GASPARRO – Production Designer

Anthony Gasparro is a production designer known for First Cow, How To Lose Friends & Alienate People and Gummo. In 2021, he won a Chlotrudis Award for Best Production Designer. He has a lovely relationship with director Kelly Reichardt as they have also collaborated on Certain Women and Showing Up.

JENNIFER JOHNSON – Costume Designer

Jennifer Johnson collaborated with Mike Mills on 20th Century Women and is known for her work on I, Tonya with director Craig Gillespie, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA in 2018 and also was given the CDGA for excellence in Contemporary Films. She worked with director Miranda July on Kajillionaire which was officially selected for Sundance in 2020. 

Her most recent work can be seen in Blonde with director Andrew Dominik.

JENNIFER SERIO – Hair Designer

Jennifer Serio is a five-time Emmy Award® winning hairstylist. Born in Alabama, she moved to New York and completed an internship in The Juilliard School's wig and makeup department. After ten years at “Saturday Night Live,” Serio continued working for Lorne Michael’s company, Broadway Video, as a department head on shows including “Shrill”, “Documentary Now,” and “Portlandia.” Serio has worked not only in television but also in motion pictures with celebrated filmmakers such as Kelly Reichardt on Certain Women and First Cow, Jim Jarmusch on Paterson, and Macon Blair on I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon with her husband and son.

JESSICA NEEDHAM – Make-up Designer

Jessica Needham has been a makeup artist for 15 years. Her interest in makeup artistry started in 2005 when she assisted her sister, a makeup artist at the time, on a low budget music video. What caught her attention was how creatively involved the makeup artist gets to be when developing characters or looks. She took her interests a little further and enrolled at The California Academy® where she learned a great deal about makeup artistry and skincare and later received her Esthetics License.

Her film credits IIe, Green Room, I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore, The Slows, First Cow, The Rental, All Together Now, Somebody I Used to Know and Little Wing.

Her television credits include “Portlandia,” “Life After First Failure,” “American Vandal,” and “Shrill.”

JERSKIN FENDRIX – Composer

Jerskin Fendrix was raised in the rural county of Shropshire, England, where he learnt violin and piano. In his early twenties, Fendrix moved to London and spent 2 years nurturing a visceral live personality at the iconic South London venue Windmill Brixton. In 2018 he composed the music for an experimental opera UBU, performed at the V&A Museum. The Guardian called the score “brutal" and “unsettling”.

He released his debut album Winterreise in April 2020 via untitled (recs). An “unhinged collection of pop songs”, Loud & Quiet Magazine named it their 2020 Album of the Year. 

In 2023, he scored the motion picture Poor Things directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. It marked the first time The Favourite and The Lobster director worked with an original composer. 

The score was critically acclaimed and received a range of “Best Original Score” nominations from the Oscars, BAFTAs, Golden Globes® and more.

YORGOS MAVROPSARIDIS – Editor

Yorgos Mavropsaridis, ACE, is an editor best known for his ongoing collaborations with director Yorgos Lanthimos on his feature films Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Favourite and most recently Poor Things. His work on The Favourite and Poor Things earned him an Academy Award® and BAFTA nominations. Mavropsaridis' credits also include Eight For Silver directed by Sean Ellis, Monos directed by Alejandro Landes and The Silence of Mercy directed by Flora Sigismondi starring Annabelle Wallis.

DIXIE CHASSAY – Casting Director

Dixie Chassay started out on SNL as a cast and writers assistant before joining a London Talent agency in the actor’s department and then training with a casting director. Chassay has worked on multi award-winning films and television series throughout her career.

Some of her film titles include, Shaun Of The Dead, Atonement, Hanna, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Wrath Of The Titans, Anna Karenina, Get Santa, Jawbone, Beirut, The Lodge, The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain, Persuasion, Our Man From Jersey, Dune: Part Two, The Book Of Clarence, and An Ideal Wife.

She previously worked with Yorgos Lanthimos on The Favourite and Poor Things. Her Television titles include Series one, two and three of “The Great” and “Conversation With Friends.”

Chassay is currently casting “Surface 2,” for showrunner Veronica West, “King & Conqueror”, and “The Department”.

ABOUT THE CAST

EMMA STONE - Rita, Liz, and Emily

Two-time Academy Award® winning actress and producer Emma Stone has claimed her role as one of Hollywood’s most versatile and sought-after creatives working today, having captivated the industry’s attention with her award-winning work in many of the most notable films of the past decade.

In 2023, Stone starred in and produced Yorgos Lanthimos’ critically acclaimed Poor Things, which premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival to rave reviews and went on to win the Golden Lion Award at the festival. Stone won the 2024 Academy Award® for “Lead Actress” on behalf of her role in the film. She also won the 2024 Golden Globe® for “Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy” and Poor Things won for “Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture.” She won the Critics Choice Award for “Best Actress” and the BAFTA Award for “Leading Actress” for her role and was honored with the “Desert Palm Achievement Award – Actress” at the 2024 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Stone and Poor Things also earned SAG nominations in addition to the film receiving a total of 11 Academy Award® nominations, including “Best Picture.”  With Stone’s Academy Award® nomination for “Lead Actress” and the films’ “Best Picture” nomination, she is only the second female ever to be nominated as both an Actress and Producer in the same year, the first being Frances McDormand for 2021’s Nomadland. 

She was most recently seen starring in and producing “The Curse,” a genre-defying series that explores how an alleged curse disturbs the relationship of a newly married couple as they try to conceive a child while co-starring on their problematic new HGTV show. Stone also served as an executive producer of the series, alongside Dave McCary and Ali Herting, under their Fruit Tree banner. The series premiered at the 2023 New York Film Festival and aired on November 10, 2023. Stone received a 2024 Golden Globe® nomination for “Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama” for her role in the series.

In 2020, Stone launched the production company ‘Fruit Tree’ with Dave McCary and Ali Herting. Under Fruit Tree, Stone has produced Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut, When You Finish Saving the World which was released on January 20, 2023, Problemista which premiered at the 2023 South by Southwest Film Festival on March 13, 2023, and was released on March 1, 2024, as well as “The Curse” along with Nathan Fielder, Josh and Benny Safdie.

In 2018, Stone was seen in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite for Searchlight alongside Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman and Nicholas Hoult. Her performance earned her several nominations including an Academy Award®, Golden Globe® Award, Screen Actors Guild Award® and British Academy of Film and Television Award. The Favourite, nominated for 10 Academy Awards®, follows the political machinations behind the scenes during the reign of Queen Anne, the last monarch of the House of Stuarts.

In 2016, Stone won the Academy Award® for “Best Actress” for her role in Damien Chazelle’s La La Land. She was also recognized with the Screen Actors Guild Award® for “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role,” Golden Globe® for “Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy,” British Academy Film Award for “Best Actress in a Leading Role” and “Best Actress” at the Venice Film Festival for her work in the film. She was honored along with co-star Ryan Gosling with the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s “Outstanding Performers of the Year” and the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s “Vanguard Award” with Gosling and Chazelle.  

In Summer 2021, Stone starred in Disney+’s Cruella, in the titular role of Cruella de Vil. The film tells the story behind the 101 Dalmations villain and sheds light on what led her to become the iconic puppy-terrorizer we first saw in the 1961 original. Emma Thompson co-stars in the film, which was released on May 28, 2021. Stone received a Golden Globe® nomination in the category “Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical” for her role in the film. Following its successful launch, a sequel is in the works with Stone attached to reprise her role as Cruella.

In winter 2020, Stone starred in the sequel to The Croods alongside Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage and Peter Dinklage. The Croods: A New Age was released on November 25, 2020. The film became a huge box office success despite the pandemic and went on to be nominated for the Golden Globe® Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

In Fall 2019, Stone starred in Zombieland 2: Double Tap opposite Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Abigail Breslin. The film was a sequel to Ruben Fleischer’s 2009 adventure comedy classic. 

In Fall 2018, Stone both starred in and executive produced “Maniac” opposite Jonah Hill. Directed by Cary Fukunaga, this dark comedy follows Stone and Hill as patients in an institution, both disconnected from reality. The series, which is based on a Norwegian series, marks Stone’s regular TV debut as well as her first production credit. “Maniac“ earned Stone a Producers Guild Award Nomination as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award Nomination for “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series.”

In 2017, Stone starred as Billie Jean King in Searchlight’s Battle of the Sexes, opposite Steve Carell’s Bobby Riggs.  Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the film told the story of when former tennis champ Riggs faced off against King in a highly publicized exhibition match.  Stone was nominated for a Golden Globe® for “Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy” for her performance.  

Stone’s additional film credits include Searchlight’s critically acclaimed Birdman which won the award for “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture” at the SAG Awards, “Best Film” at the Independent Spirit Awards, and “Best Picture” at the Academy Awards®. Her performance landed her an Academy Award® nomination for “Best Supporting Actress” as well as a Golden Globe®, SAG, and Independent Spirit nomination.  

She has also appeared in Woody Allen’s Irrational Man; Cameron Crowe’s film Aloha; Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight; the superhero franchise The Amazing Spiderman in which she starred in the first two films; the period drama Gangster Squad; Easy A which earned her a Golden Globe® nomination and an MTV Movie Award for “Best Comedic Performance”; the award winning drama, The Help; the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love; Friends With Benefits; the independent drama Paperman; the animated comedy, Marmaduke; the hit comedy Zombieland; the romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past; The House Bunny; The Rocker; and the Judd Apatow comedy Superbad.

When she’s not filming, Stone is an advocate for Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), a ground-breaking initiative created to accelerate innovative cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives now. Laura Ziskin, the late producer of The Amazing Spiderman, started the organization and got Stone involved. 

In addition to SU2C, Stone serves on the board of the Child Mind Institute, a non-profit dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders. Stone is also an ambassador for Gilda’s Club New York City. Named for the late comedian and original cast member of SNL, Gilda Radner, Gila’s Club offers a place where people dealing with cancer can join together to build social and emotional support. Stone has become an active member in the Gilda’s Club community and continues to do so by engaging with their younger departments for children and teens. 

Stone is currently the face of Louis Vuitton and serves as an ambassador for the luxury brand. 

JESSE PLEMONS - Robert, Daniel, and Andrew

Jesse Plemons received an early start as an actor, making his debut at age three. His natural talent helped him land the role that would shape the early part of his career, the breakout role in “Friday Night Lights.” Cast as Landry Clarke, Plemons was a fan favourite on this Emmy Award® -winning show.

Following the conclusion of “Friday Night Lights,” Plemons appeared in a number of films, including roles in the films Battleship (2012), Paul (2011) and Observe and Report (2009). Additionally, he was cast in the final two season of the acclaimed show “Breaking Bad” (2008-2013). There he played Todd Alquist and was recognized by IGN as 2013's best TV villain. He then appeared opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master.

In 2015, he appeared as Kevin Weeks in Black Mass, the Whitey Bulger biopic opposite Johnny Depp, in Bridge of Spies, Steven Spielberg's Cold War drama, as Floyd Landis in Stephen Frears' cycling film The Program, as well as in Season 2 of the Golden Globe® award-winning show “Fargo” for which he was nominated for an Emmy® and won a Critic's Choice Award.

Plemons was nominated for a Spirit Award for his work in the independent film Other People. Some of his other credits include The Discovery opposite Robert Redford and Jason Segal. Scott Cooper’s Hostiles opposite Christian Bale, Game Night opposite Jason Bateman, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, Vince Gilligan’s El Camino where he reprised his role as Todd from “Breaking Bad,” as well as Judas and The Black Messiah.

Some of Plemons’ most recent credits include starring in Disney's Jungle Cruise alongside Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Scott Cooper's film Antlers opposite Keri Russel produced by Guillermo Del Toro, and Charlie Kaufman's movie I'm Thinking of Ending Things.

Plemons was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2022 Academy Awards® for his performance in Jane Campion's feature The Power of the Dog opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst.

Recently Plemons co-starred in the limited series “Love & Death” opposite Elizabeth Olsen where he earned both and Emmy® and Critics Choice nomination and the feature Killers of the Flower Moon directed by Martin Scorsese.

Currently, Plemons is working on the brand-new limited series, “Zero Day.”

WILLEM DAFOE - Raymond, George and Omi

Having made over one hundred fifty films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and dare to some of the most iconic films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, large and small, Hollywood films as well as independent cinema.

In 1979, he was given a role in Michael's Cimino's Heaven's Gate, from which he was fired. Since then, he has collaborated with directors who represent a virtual encyclopedia of modern cinema: Hector Babenco, Kathryn Bigelow, Kenneth Branagh, Anton Corbijn, Scott Cooper, David Cronenberg, William Friedkin, Mary Harron, Werner Herzog, Walter Hill, Vasilis Katsoupis, Spike Lee, David Lynch, Anthony Minghella, Phillip Noyce, Alan Parker, Sam Raimi, Dee Rees, Robert Rodriguez, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, Zack Snyder, Guillermo del Toro, Lars von Trier, James Wan, Wim Wenders and Zhang Yimou.

Dafoe has been recognized with four Academy Award® nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Oliver Stone’s Platoon, E. Elias Merhige’s Shadow of the Vampire (for which he also received Golden Globe® and Screen Actors Guild nominations), and Sean Baker’s The Florida Project (also Golden Globe® and Screen Actors Guild nominations) as well as Best Leading Actor for Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity's Gate (also a Golden Globe® nomination). Most recently, he appeared in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, for which he earned a Golden Globe® and Screen Actors Guild nomination. Dafoe has also been awarded by the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review, as well as twice by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Additionally, he is the recipient of two Independent Spirit Awards, the Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup and a Berlinale Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement.

He and his wife, director Giada Colagrande, have worked on four films together: Padre, A Woman, Before It Had A Name and the documentary, Bob Wilson’s Life and Death of Marina Abramovic. 

His natural adventurousness is evident in roles as diverse as Thomas Wake in Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse; Marcus, the elite assassin who is mentor to Keanu Reeves in the neo-noir John Wick; in his voice work as Gil the Moorish Idol in Pixar’s Finding Nemo; as the notorious filmmaker in Abel Ferrara’s Pasolini; as Paul Smecker, the obsessed FBI agent in the cult classic The Boondock Saints; as real life hero Leonhard Seppala, who led the 1925 Alaskan dog sled diphtheria serum run in Togo; and the notorious duality of Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, a role he reprised in Jon Watts’ record-breaking Spider-Man: No Way Home. That adventurous spirit continues with Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice; Isaiah Saxon’s fantasy epic The Legend of Ochi; Olmo Schnabel’s Pet Shop Days; Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl; and Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, marking his third collaboration with the director. He recently wrapped lensing Nadia Latif’s The Man in My Basement and will soon begin American Nails, his eighth collaboration with Abel Ferrara. Most recently, he was seen in Asteroid City, his fifth collaboration with Wes Anderson; Saverio Costanzo’s Finalmente L’alba; and leant his voice to the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. 

Dafoe is one of the original members of The Wooster Group, the New York based experimental theatre collective. He created and performed in all of the group's work from 1977 thru 2005, both in the U.S. and internationally. Since then, he worked with Richard Foreman in Idiot Savant at NYC's Public Theatre, with Robert Wilson on two international productions: The Life & Death of Marina Abramovic and The Old Woman (opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov), Marina Abramovic's opera 7 Deaths Of Maria Callas, and developed a new theatre piece, directed by Romeo Castellucci, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil.

MARGARET QUALLEY - Vivian, Martha, and twins Ruth and Rebecca

Margaret Qualley has become one of the most sought-after actors of her generation in the years since her esteemed debut portrayal of Jill Garvey on the critically acclaimed series “The Leftovers” in 2014.

Currently, Qualley can be seen starring in Ethan Coen’s Drive Away Dolls alongside Geraldine Viswanathan and Beanie Feldstein, also starring Pedro Pascal, and Matt Damon. Qualley can also be seen starring opposite Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things which received numerous accolades including an Academy Award® “Best Picture” nomination, Golden Globe® Nominations and a Gotham Award Nomination. Upcoming films include Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t, also starring Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans, and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, in which she stars opposite Demi Moore. 

In the spring of 2023, Qualley starred in the romance-thriller, Sanctuary, alongside Christopher Abbott, directed by Zachary Wigon, which premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2021, Qualley starred in the critically acclaimed limited series “Maid,” for which she received Emmy®, Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice Award nominations. The show, based off Stephanie Land’s New York Times best-selling memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive, premiered to rave reviews and has been watched by 75+ million households. 

In 2021, Qualley starred alongside Joe Alwyn in Claire Denis’ drama Stars at Noon, which won the Grand Prix at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, and this Spring, she will star alongside Christopher Abbott in Zachary Wigon’s independent thriller and two-hander, Sanctuary. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year to wonderful reviews and will be released in May. 

Also upcoming, Qualley will star in Coralie Fargeat’s film and Working Title, The Substance, alongside Demi Moore and Ray Liotta, and in Ethan Coen’s Untitled Project. Qualley is also attached to star as Ginger Rogers in Jonathan Entwistle’s Fred & Ginger, alongside Jamie Bell who will play Fred Astaire.

In 2019, Qualley appeared in two award-winning projects: Quentin Tarantino’s 10-time Oscar nominated film, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood as Pussy Cat, alongside Brad Bitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lena Dunham and Margot Robbie; and in the eight-episode 17-time Emmy® nominated limited FX series, “Fosse/Verdon” as Ann Reinking alongside Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams, and for which she received Emmy® and Critics Choice nominations. The series, directed by Thomas Kail and executive produced by Lin Manuel Miranda, was based on the biography by Sam Wasson, Fosse.

In 2017, Qualley received widespread acclaim as the star of Kenzo Perfume’s new campaign directed by Spike Jonze, which was named one of the best ads of 2016 by AdWeek Magazine.

Qualley’s other screen credits include: Olivia Wilde’s short, Wake Up, shot by Matthew Libatique; Rashid Johnson’s Native Son; Hideo Kojima video game, Death Stranding, Margaret Betts’s Novitiate, opposite Melissa Leo and Julianne Nicholson; Benedict Andrews’ Seberg alongside Kristen Stewart; Philippe Falardeau’s My Sallinger Year, alongside Sigourney Weaver; Tim Sutton’s indie thriller, Donnybrook; Rhys Ernst’s and Wolfe Releasing’s Adam; Shane Black’s The Nice Guys, opposite Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe; and Gia Coppola’s independent drama, Qualley’s first film – Palo Alto, with Emma Roberts. 

HONG CHAU - Sarah, Sharon, and Aka

Hong Chau received critical acclaim for her role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale opposite Brendan Fraser, for which she earned Academy®, SAG, and BAFTA Award nominations, among many other critics group recognitions. Last year, she also received rave reviews for her performances in The Menu (Searchlight) and Showing Up, and also starred in the hit series “The Night Agent” and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. She will next be seen in Instigators.

Her breakout role in the film Downsizing (2017, dir. Alexander Payne) as Vietnamese amputee and political activist Ngoc Lan Tran earned her a Golden Globe® Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, among many others. 

Chau is also known for her roles in the series “Homecoming” and the Emmy Award® winning limited series “Watchmen.” She has also appeared in the television series “Treme” and film Inherent Vice (2014, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson), and has guest starred in several TV series, including “Bojack Horseman” and “Big Little Lies,” amongst others. Her performance in Driveways (2019, dir. Andrew Ahn), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, earned her a Best Female Lead nomination for the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards.

JOE ALWYN – Collectibles Appraiser Man 1, Jerry, and Joseph

Joe Alwyn made his acting debut starring as the title role in Oscar-winning director Ang Lee’s 2016 war drama Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. Recent credits include Claire Denis' film The Stars at Noon (which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2022) opposite Margaret Qualley, Lena Dunham's Catherine Called Birdy, “Conversations With Friends” for Hulu (the adaptation of Sally Rooney’s debut literary sensation directed by Lenny Abrahamson), Josie Rourke’s Mary Queen of Scots, Joel Edgerton’s Boy Erased, Harriet with Cynthia Erivo directed by Kasi Lemmons, Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir: Part II, Augustine Frizzell's Last Letter From Your Lover and Yorgos Lanthimos’ award winning film The Favourite with Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz. Up next, Alwyn has Brady Corbet's The Brutalist and Aneil Karia's Hamlet opposite Riz Ahmed.

MAMOUDOU ATHIE - Will, Neil, and Morgue Nurse

Mamoudou Athie is an Emmy Award®-nominated actor who based in Los Angeles, California.

As a talented voice actor, Athie also involved in two highly acclaimed animated films in 2023. First, he led Pixar’s animated feature Elemental as the voice of Wade Ripple. The film was released on June 16, 2023 and closed the prestigious Cannes Film Festival a month prior. Elemental went on to receive a Best Animated Film Oscar nomination. Additionally, Athie recorded a supporting role for Hayao Miyazaki’s latest project, The Boy and the Heron, alongside Christian Bale, Gemma Chan, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh. The film has broken records as the first original anime title in history to top the North American box office chart, and is now Miyazaki’s top grossing film domestically.  The Boy and the Heron went on to win Best Animated Feature Film, meaning Athie was involved in two of the five films in that category.

Athie was most recently seen in Maggie Betts’ drama feature The Burial, which debuted at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival to much praise. The ensemble cast includes Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones and Jurnee Smollett.

In 2022, Athie starred alongside Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jeff Goldblum in Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion, which brought in $143 million at the box office for its opening. It has generated over $1 billion globally since release. That same year, he also led the James Wan produced series “Archive 81”. 

Athie was nominated for an Emmy Award® for Outstanding Actor in A Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for his role in the FX series, “Oh Jerome, No.” He is also well-known for his lead performance in Prentice Penny’s feature Uncorked opposite Courtney B. Vance, which has been applauded by critics and audiences alike.  

His resume also includes roles in Black Box, Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner opposite Hugh Jackman, two seasons of James Ponsoldt’s Facebook series “Sorry For Your Loss” opposite Elizabeth Olsen, Unicorn Store opposite Brie Larson, the breakout Sundance hit Patti Cake$, and Baz Luhrmann’s series “The Get Down.”

Athie graduated from Yale School of Drama’s MFA program and was given the RISING STAR honor at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. 

HUNTER SCHAFER – Anna

Hunter Schafer is an American artist and actor. She was recently seen in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Schafer plays Tigris Snow, the cousin and confidante of Coriolanus Snow in the prequel directed by Francis Lawrence. She recently wrapped production on the feature Mother Mary opposite Anne Hathway and Michaela Coel. The film from writer-director David Lowery is an epic pop melodrama following a fictional musician and her relationship with an iconic fashion designer. She will next be seen in her first theatrical leading role in the horror thriller Cuckoo from director Tilman Singer (Luz). She stars opposite Dan Stevens, in the film which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and SXSW Film Festival in 2024 and will be released August 9, 2024. 

Schafer made her acting debut portraying Jules in the Emmy Award®-nominated drama “Euphoria,” from creator Sam Levinson (Assassination Nation). Early screenings of the pilot episode landed her on The Hollywood Reporter’s list of 7 Rising Stars poised for a breakout in 2019. She was honoured with the Discovery Award for her performance on the series by Savannah College of Art and Design at the SCAD aTVfest. In 2021, she received critical praise for a special episode of the series, “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob,” which she co-wrote, co-executive produced and starred in. Later that year, TIME named her to the Next List of 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future. The series will begin production on the third season in early 2024. Expanding her resume behind the camera, Schafer made her directorial debut helming girl in red’s music video for the song “hornylovesickmess,” and recently directed Anohni’s Why Am I Alive Now? Video. 

Born in New Jersey and raised in North Carolina, at 15, Schafer’s art took the form of watercolour paintings, collages, sketches, comics, photos, and essays. In 2017, while attending the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, she was named a finalist for The National YoungArts Foundations’ competition – the organization’s highest honour. The National YoungArts Foundation was established in 1981 to identify and support the next generation of artists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts. In December that year, Teen Vogue named her one of the world’s 21 Most Influential People Under 21.