Yorgos Lanthimos seen by Emma Stone: “He’s my muse!”

Between two embarrassed laughs from Margaret Qualley, the Kinds of Kindness press conference was very telling.

As always with Yorgos Lanthimoshis new film Kinds of Kindness surprised the public during its screening in official competition last night. He depicts in this reflection on mental manipulation a bizarre universe as desired, demanding a lot from its actors, who must agree to immerse themselves 100% in its vision. And it works : Emma StoneJesse Plemmons, Joe Alwyn, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Mamoudou Athie, Hunter Schafer… all are excellent in this work divided into three segments.

During the press conference organized at the end of the morning in Cannes, the journalists logically wanted to know more about Yorgos' way of working, the functioning of his mind, his taste for manipulating bodies or his way of directing his ideas as bizarre as anyone.

Everyone tried to answer as best they could, until Margaret Qualleyembarrassed, does not escape with a pirouette which sums up the funny atmosphere of this panel: “Do you like my hat?”she asks the audience, hilariously, to avoid thinking too much about a question.

Another example, this question asked to William Dafoewhich dries completely:

“The perfect word to describe your work with Yorgos?” “Phew…!, lets slip the actor, although he is a big fan of strange works, he who has worked with Lars Von Trier, Robert Eggers… A single word would reduce Yorgos' entire personality, he is so many things! Sorry, huh!”

At another point in the discussion, he said all the same, about the director whom he found shortly after Poor creatures :

“What strikes me about him is that he always seeks to do even better, and that teaches us to surpass ourselves, but without ever being pretentious.”

And Jesse Plemonshow would he define their collaboration?

“After reading the script, it was like this story was stuck in my head but it didn't have any box to fit into. It's a very weird feeling.”

Joe Alwyn has undoubtedly the most understandable formula on this subject:

“That’s what I like about Yorgos’ films: we feel things first, before our brain tries to understand what’s happening.”

Emma Stone, amused muse

Logically, most of the questions were directed towards the director and his actress. The Favorite, Poor Creatures And Kinds of Kindness. Since their meeting eight years ago, they have created an original work together, without repeating themselves from film to film.

“He’s my muse!”she retorts, laughing when the question is asked of the filmmaker.

“It’s true, we’ve already clarified that for a very long time”Lanthimos then specifies, laughing.

More seriously, the actress who was so marked by her role as Bella Baxter (“He’s the only character in my entire career that I had a hard time leaving”she says), tries to explain why their duo works so well:

“I'm attracted to his films, his characters, the way he puts it all together. We had an incredible time on The Favoriteand we simply wanted to get together.

(…)

I trust him more than any director, and I've been lucky enough to work with some great filmmakers, so… I don't know how to explain it, we have a connection.

When we work with Yorgos, we don't talk about intellectual things, it goes through movement, physicality. As with Bella Baxter, we found this character by looking at how she walked, via her way of conquering space, etc. (…) It’s also our job as actors, to explore our bodies.

(…)

I'm a feminist… and his stories interest me. But I don't choose my roles solely on that, I accept them in relation to the characters, to the novelty… Yes, I am a feminist, and yes, I like working with Yorgos Lanthimos.”

Emma Stone – Poor Creatures: “Bella is the character who made me the happiest”

When he is asked about the evolution of his career, moving from independent films in Greece to Hollywood cinema, Emma has fun once again:

“Of course we've seen his Greek films. We've seen all his films… way too many times!”

Then the filmmaker details:

“After my first films in Greece, I went to London, in fact, not directly to the United States. You know, I made films that were really broke, with friends who agreed to follow me. By leaving for the English-speaking world, it gave me more means, more of everything. I wasn't absolutely looking to break into Hollywood, but it gives me the opportunity to do more of what I want. My next film will be smaller than that. Poor creatures, for example, so it depends on the projects. But it’s great to have the opportunity to do all that.”

“Turn Kinds of Kindness After Poor creatures, it was a very interesting experience. And purifying”he also says, before trying to explain his artistic approach.

“I work very instinctively, I try to always honor that. I surround myself with people I trust. But I don't know if I have that much confidence in myself. You have to have a little bit, of course , but we also rely a lot on the people we invite into our universe, and that's probably why I love meeting collaborators from one film to another.

(…)

It's so hard to explain why you make the films that you make. Why do you make this or that decision, when from your point of view, you were inspired by people, you worked with several…

(…)

Physicality, body language, is very important to me. We always start with that, not by intellectualizing. When you have a solid story, such characters, you need to get started, to go for it. The body is crucial from my point of view. And then, I'm not really hurting anyone, the idea is to explore. Explore life. All this involves weirdness, uneasiness…”

Kinds of Kindness will be released on June 26 in France.

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