Yorgos Lanthimos

During the 1990s Lanthimos directed a series of videos for Greek dance-theater companies. Since 1995 he has directed TV commercials, music videos, short films and experimental theater plays.[5] He was also a member of the creative team that designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[5][6] Lanthimos's feature film career started with the 2001 mainstream film My Best Friend, which he co-directed with Lakis Lazopoulos, and the experimental film Kinetta which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival.[7]

His third feature film, a Greek psychological drama Dogtooth, won the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival[8][9] and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards.[10] Critic Roger Ebert praised Lanthimos for "his command of visuals and performances".[11] The Associated Press described the film as "Disturbing and at times startlingly brutal, the film will alienate those who seek genteel fare at the art house. But its edgy integrity and distinctive atmosphere should win fans in some corners, particularly among those who admire the less tongue-in-cheek work of Lars Von Trier."[12] In 2010, he acted in and co-produced Attenberg, a Greek drama film directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari. His fourth feature film, Alps (2011), won the Osella Award for Best Screenplay at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.[13]

Stone acted in his films The Favourite (2018), and Poor Things (2023)

Lanthimos then directed his fifth film, an absurdist black comedy The Lobster (2015) starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, and John C. Reilly. The script for Lanthimos's won the ARTE International Award as Best CineMart Project at the 42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam.[14] The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival[15] and won the Jury Prize.[16][17] Chris Nashawatay of Entertainment Weekly praised the film describing it as "the most original and beautifully strange love story since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)". He added, "Lanthimos’ films aren’t for everyone. They’re deadpan and almost clinically detached. At times they feel like dispatches from a distant alien planet."[18]

In 2017 he directed the psychological horror A24 film The Killing of a Sacred Deer starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and Barry Keoghan. The film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival where it comepeted for the Palme d'Or. Mark Kermode of The Guardian described the film writing, "As black comedy gives way to grand guignol, we are reminded of the tortured games that Michael Haneke once played upon his bourgeois protagonists and audiences." He also compared the film to The Exorcist, We Need to Talk About Kevin and Rosemary's Baby.[19]

At the 75th Venice Film Festival, he presented his latest work, a period black comedy The Favourite (2018) where it won the Grand Jury Prize. The film starred Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz. The film tied with Roma for the most nominations at 91st Academy Awards, with ten, including Best Picture and Best Director for Lanthimos.[20] Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, "Set in the court of Queen Anne during the early 1700s, with jaunty dollops of classical music playing in ironic counterpart to all the low-minded chicanery, the movie is Barry Lyndon meets Dangerous Liaisons meets All About Eve with blood flourishes lifted from Peter Greenaway."[21]

In February 2019, it was reported that Lanthimos was working on an adaptation of the Jim Thompson 1964 novel Pop. 1280, which he is set to write and direct.[22] He presented his fourth English-language film, Poor Things, at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion.[23]