Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has had a growing mainstream popularity in the last few years. His direction style and love for the absurdist genre have long set him apart from his contemporaries. Lanthimos has also earned a reputation for incorporating macabre plots in his films.
Yorgos Lanthimos is arguably one of Hollywood’s most famous and successful Greek filmmakers today. Over the years, he has grown a list of frequent collaborators with whom he often works. With a rising name and fame, here’s everything to know about the Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Father Was A Professional Basketball Player
Yorgos Lanthimos was born in Pagrati, Athens, Greece, on September 23, 1973. His mother, Eirini Lanthimos, was a shop owner, while his father, Antonis Lanthimos, was a professional basketball player. During his active years, Lanthimos’ father played for Pagrati BC, which competes in the Greek 2nd Division. His father also played with the Greek national basketball team. These kept him away from home during Yorgos Lanthimos’ growing years. The filmmaker was practically raised by his mother. After his retirement, Lanthimos’ father became a basketball instructor at the Moraitis School, a co-educational private school in Athens.
Yorgos Lanthimos Was Also A Professional Basketball Player
Although basketball kept his father away most of the time, Yorgos Lanthimos always admired the sport. Lanthimos attended and graduated from Moraitis School, after which he studied Business Administration. However, he also played basketball professionally, as he had always dreamed he would. With his 1.87-meter height, Yorgos Lanthimos also played for Pagrati BC. However, his career as a basketball player was cut short after he sustained an injury. With no other option to continue the sport, Lanthimos set his sights on his next big passion.
He Began His Filmmaking Career With Commercials
After an early retirement from basketball, Yorgos Lanthimos chose to study film and television directing. He studied at the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos in Athens. Since filmmaking wasn’t a common career prospect for a young man in Greece at the time, Lanthimos’ choice of study was to make commercials. Besides the technical experience from making commercials, it provided him with enough money to fund his true passion for filmmaking. Together with a few friends, who also helped with the props, Lanthimos made his first film, O viasmos tis Hlois (The Rape of Chloe), a short Greek film.
Yorgos Lanthimos Directed Music Videos For Several Greek Musical Artistes
While producing commercials, Yorgos Lanthimos also worked on several Greek artists’ musical videos. From 1996 to 2000, Lanthimos directed 10 musical videos. In 1996, he directed singer-songwriter Katerina Kyrmizi’s “I paramythenia” song music video. Lanthimos also directed at least one music video for these Greek artists, including Despina Vandi, Kalliopi Vetta, Dionysis Shoinas, Haris Alexiou, Mando, and Sakis Rouvas. In 2020, Yorgos Lanthimos directed the Gucci: Of Course a Horse video for the Gucci Spring Summer 2020 campaign.
He Has A Growing List Of Frequent Collaborators
Throughout his filmmaking career, Yorgos Lanthimos has frequently collaborated with several talents. Since his 2009 Dogtooth movie, Lanthimos has worked with Greek screenwriter Efthymis Filippou in five movies. Interestingly, whenever Lanthimos co-writes a screenplay (besides Kinetta), he always does so with Efthymis Filippou. Lanthimos is now famously known for his frequent collaborations with two-time Academy Award-winning actress Emma Stone.
The actress’s appearance in Lanthimos’ next film, Bugonia, would be the fifth time they have collaborated. Lanthimos also works with Greek actress and theater director Angeliki Papoulia. Other notable actor names Lanthimos frequently collaborates with include Olivia Colman, Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Joe Alwyn, and Ariane Labed. He recently began collaborating with Willem Dafoe, Jesse Plemons, and Margaret Qualley.
Four Of His Films Have Received Oscar Nominations
Since making his feature directorial debut in 2001, Yorgos Lanthimos has directed nine released movies. Four of the nine movies in his directorial credits have impressively received at least one nomination at the Academy Awards. Lanthimos’ first Oscar nomination was his third feature movie, Dogtooth. The movie was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. Lanthimos’ next Oscar nomination was Best Original Screenplay for his co-written, original screenplay with Efthymis Filippou in The Lobster.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest movie, Kinds of Kindness, is scheduled for release in June 2024. Judging by the nomination of Lanthimos’ last two movies at the Academy Awards, there’s anticipation that Kinds of Kindness may also receive a nod from the Academy. 2018 The Favourite and 2023 Poor Things received Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.
Yorgos Lanthimos Is Married To An Actress
Yorgos Lanthimos is married to Greek-French actress Ariane Labed. The couple met while filming Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Greek drama movie Attenberg. Labed led the cast as Marina, with Lanthimos playing the Engineer. They began dating and married in 2013. Although the couple lived in London for about a decade, they now live in Athens, Greece. If you enjoyed reading about Yorgos Lanthimos’ bio, her are the 6 best movies from the director.
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