In the new anthology film Types of kindnessIn The Last Supper, surrealist Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos tells three stories with the same group of actors – Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley and others. He recasts each of them in each section: Plemons is a troubled office worker, a paranoid cop and a cult investigator; Stone is a glamorous optician, a missing marine biologist and a cult follower going through a crisis of faith (or some kind of crisis), and so on. Lanthimos places these famous actors in roles that contrast or complement each other, exploring different facets of their personalities.
It is an extension of the working style that Lanthimos likes to cultivate. Much of the cast, apart from Plemons, has appeared in his films before. It is Stone’s third film in a row with him; the previous, Poor thingsshe won an Oscar for Best Actress. And they are about to win the fourth in a row. Lanthimos’ next film, Bugoniawhich is scheduled to be released in 2025 and is based on the Korean science fiction comedy Save the green planet!Stone will again play the lead role. Plemons is also expected to appear in this film.
Actors obviously like working for Lanthimos. English actor Joe Alwyn (Conversations with friends
“It’s like a theater troupe and it felt very playful,” Alwyn said in an interview with Lanthimos. “Being on set for The favourite And Types of kindness I didn’t feel like I was going to work, as sometimes happens or can happen sometimes. It felt like you were going and acting. And that’s such a nice feeling as an actor, to capture as much as you can. That comes from the material, of course, and also from the way Yorgos is on set, and from his rehearsals, and from every component and every department. It’s rare that you feel that as strongly as you do with these two films. It’s really just a joy.”
That sounds like fun, but it also takes some courage to act in a Lanthimos film. He likes to film his characters doing bizarre, humiliating, intimate or disturbing things in an open, unbiased way. In Types of kindnessDafoe cries into a pool in a pair of swimming trunks, Stone gives a long speech about a society of sentient dogs, and Qualley sings a Bee Gees song while accompanying herself on a toy piano – all with a completely straight face.
What characterizes an actor who fits into Lanthimos’ peculiar world? “I think it’s just being open-minded,” said the director. “And being generous to the other actors and trusting them when they see that trust is appropriate. Being willing not to take things too seriously. And trying things that might make you uncomfortable and make you feel ridiculous in front of the others!”
Watch out Types of kindness is like going through a decade of a director’s work in one sitting: You notice how the same themes are approached from different angles, and you see how the familiar, all-star cast embody characters that contrast with one another or reflect each other in poignant ways. Other than that, there’s nothing that connects the stories except their alienated, grim, blackly humorous mood – and the character of RMF, a bearded man (played by Lanthimos’ friend Yorgos Stefanakos) who appears in each story. “We just decided that it would be more interesting if not the main characters reappeared in the three stories, but someone who only appears for a brief moment, but whose presence is somehow crucial to the stories,” Lanthimos said of the character.
Lanthimos is open about the way he used the cast and chose their roles for each story. “You find out what makes sense for everyone to play – sometimes kind of rationally, sometimes against type, whatever that may be.” But he suggests that it is the recurring cast that creates an alchemy between the three storylines and Types of kindness
“You kind of carry something from one story into the next just because you feel familiar with it, because you’ve seen the actor in a role before – I think you just can’t help but carry certain things into the next story. Even though the characters themselves don’t have as much of a story arc as they do in a feature-length film, you kind of compensate because you’ve seen the actor before, and you kind of carry a feeling of that person into the next story and then the next story,” he said.
“So the characters are kind of enriched without it being very literal. But more than anything, that sense of familiarity, that sense of acknowledging that this is a movie and not real life, allows you to let go and be more open to the next story.”
But what does it all mean? Lanthimos is unwilling to comment on this – but Alwyn is extremely clear. Reflecting on his character from the third story, who initially turns tenderly to his ex-wife before a shocking twist, Alwyn offers a sensitive summary of the unifying theme of Types of kindness.
“Everywhere you see people approaching you with apparent kindness and goodness, whether it’s a boss offering structure and reward to an employee searching for meaning, or cult leaders offering a home to a woman whose life has recently changed – and, you know, offering what she thinks is love. But while on paper that’s kindness, on paper it’s much more about control or coercive control, manipulation, power imbalance.” As gnomic as Lanthimos is as a director, his actors know exactly what he’s up to.
Types of kindness is now in theaters.