Yorgos Lanthimos on being an actor in his films: ‘You might feel ridiculous’

In the new anthology film Types of kindnesssurreal Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos tells three stories with the same group of actors — Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley and more. He recasts them all in each segment: Plemons is a downtrodden office worker, a paranoid police officer, and a cult investigator; Stone is a glamorous optometrist, a missing marine biologist, and a cult researcher who has a crisis of faith (or at least a crisis of sorts), and so on. Lanthimos moves these famous actors through roles that contrast or complement each other, exploring different facets of their personalities.

It’s an extension of Lanthimos’s way of working. Much of the cast, except Plemons, has appeared in his films before. It’s Stone’s third film in a row with him; the previous one, Poor thingsearned her an Oscar for Best Actress. And they’re about to make it four in a row. Lanthimos’ next film, Bugoniascheduled for release in 2025 and based on the Korean sci-fi comedy Save the green planet!will once again star Stone. Plemons will also appear in that film.

Actors clearly enjoy working for Lanthimos. That’s what the English actor Joe Alwyn (Conversations with friends), who appeared with Stone in Lanthimos’ The favorite and has funny little bits in the first two Types of kindness stories before taking on a larger role in the third installment as Stone’s character’s estranged husband.

“It’s like a theater group, and it felt very playful,” Alwyn told Polygon in an interview with Lanthimos. “On set, for The favorite And Types of kindness didn’t feel like working in the way it sometimes does, or can sometimes sneak up on. It felt like you were going to play. And that’s such a nice feeling, as an actor, to hold on to as much as possible. That is of course because of the material, and also because of the way Yorgos is on set, and his rehearsals, and every part, and every department. It’s rare to feel that way as you do with those two films. It really is just a joy.”

That sounds fun, but it also takes some courage to be in a Lanthimos film. He likes to film his characters doing bizarre, humiliating, intimate or disturbing things in a candid, unflappable way. In Types of kindnessDafoe cries in a pool while wearing a Speedo, Stone gives a long speech about a society of sensitive dogs, and Qualley sings a Bee Gees song while accompanying herself on a toy piano — all with a serious face.

What characterizes an actor who fits into Lanthimos’ peculiar world? “I think it’s just an open mind,” the director said. “And being generous with the other actors, and having trust when they see that trust is due. Being ready to, you know, not take things too seriously. And trying things that might make you uncomfortable, and feel ridiculous in front of the others!”

Watching Types of kindness is a bit like rushing through ten years of a director’s work in one go: you notice the same themes being viewed from different angles, and see how the familiar, star-studded cast inhabits characters that contrast or echo each other in poignant ways. Furthermore, there is nothing connecting the stories, except their alienated, gloomy, blackly comic atmosphere – and the figure 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 it wasn’t the main characters who would reappear in the three stories, but someone who only appears for a brief moment, but his presence is kind of crucial to the stories,” Lanthimos said about the character.

Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures

Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures

Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures

Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures

Lanthimos shot these portrait photos of Stone, Alwyn, Qualley and Plemons himself on set Types of kindness.

Lanthimos is nonchalant about the way he cast and selected their roles for each story. “You figure out what makes sense to play for each story — sometimes in a rational way, sometimes against type, whatever that may be.” But he suggests that it’s the returning cast that creates an alchemy between the three storylines, and Types of kindness more than the sum of its parts.

“You do bring something with you from one story to the next, just because it’s familiar because you’ve seen that actor play a character before — I think you just can’t help but carry certain things over into the next story. Even though the characters themselves don’t have as much of an arc as they would in a full-length feature film, you kind of make up for it because you’ve seen the actor before, and you kind of carry over a sense of that person into the next story and then into the next story,” he said.

“So in some ways the characters are enriched without it being very literal. But especially with that sense of familiarity, the sense of acknowledging that this is a movie and not real life, you can let go and step into the next story in a more open way.

What does all this mean? Lanthimos won’t go into that — but Alwyn is very clear. Reflecting on his character from the third story, who first tenderly reaches out to his ex-wife before a shocking twist, Alwyn offers a perceptive summary of the unifying theme of Types of kindness.

“Everywhere you look, there are people reaching out with kindness and goodwill, whether it’s a boss offering structure and reward to an employee looking for purpose, or cult leaders offering a home to a woman whose life has recently changed—which, you know, she thinks is love. But while that’s kindness on paper, when you write it down, it’s much more about control, or coercive control, manipulation, and power imbalances.” As gnomic a director as Lanthimos is, his actors clearly know exactly what he’s up to.

Types of kindness is in theaters now.