Yorgos Lanthimos has issued a warning for the independent film sector, saying “it is getting more and more difficult” for independent films with “different themes” to get made.
“It has been a trend for a long time,” said Lanthimos, speaking at the press conference for his Venice Competition title Bugonia. “The weird and complicated thing about cinema is that it’s both art and entertainment. Because of the cost to make films, it becomes very challenging to choose which films are going to be made.”
“There are films that are both [art and entertainment], so it’s a very complicated landscape. I wouldn’t rush to separate everything to categories, which is an important theme of this film – how we have bias as people, how we view other individuals, other groups, and we can’t see through that.”
“It’s becoming more and more difficult financially for more independent films that have different themes that have not been tried, to be successful, to be made,” said Lanthimos. “That has always been the case; I think it’s just getting more and more difficult.”
Bugonia follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap the CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons lead the cast.
Reckoning
Lanthimos contested the suggestion his film is a dystopia, saying it is closer to home than that. “Not much of the dystopia in this film is very fictional,” said the director. “A lot of it’s reflecting on the real world.
“I wouldn’t necessarily call it a dystopic film. If anything, this film says ‘this is happening now’, and it became more relevant as time went by.”
“Humanity is facing a reckoning very soon,” the director continued. “People need to choose the right path in many ways. Otherwise I don’t know how much time we have, with everything that’s happening in the world, with technology, with AI, with wars, climate change and the denial of these things. How desensitised we have become to all these things.”
“Hopefully [the film] will trigger people to think about what’s happening today.”
Stone was in a humorous mood throughout the conference, responding to a question about how she deals with success without turning into an alien by saying, “How do you know I’m not an alien?”
“There’s a tricky aspect to that answer that’s longer than anything that anyone would want to listen to right now,” continued the actress and producer, who then detailed a division between her public and private personas. “We can all relate to that feeling of someone thinking they know you, feeling like you don’t have much control of the avatar outside of me.
“Because there’s me, and then there’s ‘me’, here,” said Stone. “There’s the person who comes here and then there’s the person who I am with my friends and family.. They’re the same person, but it’s what I do to keep myself sane.”
Responding to a question about whether she believes in a greater intelligence looking down upon humans, Stone cited philosopher Carl Sagan as “one of my favourite people who has ever lived.”
“He very deeply believed the idea that we’re alone in this vast expansive universe is a pretty narcissistic thing,” said Stone.
“So yes, I’m coming out and saying it – I believe in aliens!” joked Stone.
Lanthimos and the film’s composer Jerskin Fendrix both wore badges with the colours of the Palestine flag during the press conference.
The film is produced by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe for UK-Ireland company Element Pictures; with Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen for their US company Square Peg; Miky Lee for CJ EN; and Lanthimos and Stone.
The film will open on October 31 in the US through Focus Features, before a UK-Ireland opening the following weekend through Universal.
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