For a man whose films are often characterised by sadism and cruelty, Yorgos Lanthimos cuts a rather benign figure in the flesh. The Greek director, dressed in sandals and striped trousers when he enters our appointed Cannes hotel room, looks more like a relationship counsellor than the man behind such caustic films as Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Even Emma Stone – the American star of his most recent three movies, The Favourite, Poor Things and his latest Kinds of Kindness – admits surprise.
“I think I thought he would be much more intense than he actually is in person,” she said during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival a day before I meet Lanthimos. The 50-year-old filmmaker takes it in good humour when this character assessment is raised during our encounter. “That wasn’t very nice! I’m an intense guy!” he chuckles, throwing his arms up in the air, all too aware that he saves his savagery for the screen.
