I first noticed Yorgos Lanthimos when I watched his brilliant “Dogtooth” in 2009. Never could I imagine that this weirdo would break out into the Hollywood studio system. Now, 14 years later, he’s had two Best Picture nominated films (“The Favourite” and “Poor Things”) and is one of the hottest filmmakers around.
His latest one is called “Kinds of Kindness” and it’s set up for a June 21 release, not to mention a world premiere at Cannes in May. This is Lanthimos’ return to the Croisette after 2017’s “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” polarized the fest. A new teaser was just released by Searchlight.
Speaking to The Guardian, Yorgos Lanthimos teased that “Kind of Kindness,” which once again stars Emma Stone, is an anthology composed of three short stories with the same actors playing different parts in each story:
“It’s all shot and we have started editing,” says Lanthimos. “It’s a contemporary film, set in the US – three different stories, with four or five actors who play one part in each story, so they all play three different parts. It was almost like making three films, really.”
So, in a way, we’re getting three new Lanthimos films at Cannes, and I’m sure, as it comes with the territory, we’ll be debating which of the three is the strongest, and weakest.
The cast of ‘Kindness’ includes Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, Willem Dafoe, Joe Alwyn, Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau, and Hunter Schafer. The film was shot while Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” was in the final stages of VFX adjustments. The post-production process took so long that Lanthimos decided to just shoot another film.
“Kinds of Kindness” filmed in October 2022 in New Orleans. Production wrapped in December of that year. Lanthimos regular Robbie Ryan is back as cinematographer. The Greek filmmaker is coming off winning the Golden Lion last year for “Poor Things”.