Kinds of Kindness

Lanthimos admits that both him and Filippou have a very similar sensibility when it comes to writing. “We’re able to build upon each other’s ideas,” he continues. “If one of us comes up with a story, the other person can find elements to make it more interesting, or more complex. That works really well for us and that’s why we keep working together.” 

There were challenges, as Lanthimos admits, specifically with time constraints – but he was excited to explore this. “With a feature film that only has one story, the audience can engage more actively because there is room to think about what is happening and apply your own logic,” he explains. “With an anthology, you bring whatever you’ve been thinking about from the first story into the next. It is more complex and more engaging. Different people identify different themes, which is a hugely interesting structure.”