Director Yorgos Lanthimos and cast members Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons pose during a photocall for the film “Kinds of Kindness” in competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival
| Photo Credit: Sarah Meyssonnier
Following the Cannes premiere of his latest film, director Yorgos Lanthimos is set to helm Bugonia, a new project starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. The film, a sci-fi dark comedy, has been picked up by Focus Features for U.S. distribution, while Universal Pictures will handle the international release.
Bugonia marks a departure from Lanthimos’ recent collaborations with Searchlight Pictures, which backed his acclaimed films The Favourite and Poor Things, as well as the upcoming Kinds of Kindness. The new film will reunite Lanthimos with Stone and Plemons, who both star in Kinds of Kindness.
Based on the 2003 South Korean sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet, Bugonia follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap a high-powered CEO, convinced that she is an alien plotting to destroy Earth. This English-language adaptation has been developed by CJ ENM in collaboration with Square Peg, led by Hereditary director Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen.
Producing Bugonia are Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe for Element Pictures, along with Lanthimos, Aster, Knudsen, Stone, and Miky Lee and Jerry Kyoungboum Ko for CJ ENM.
Yorgos Lanthimos, a six-time Academy Award® nominee, has garnered international acclaim since his breakout film Dogtooth won the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes in 2009. His transition to English-language cinema has been marked by a series of successful films, including The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and The Favourite, which earned Olivia Colman an Oscar for Best Actress.
Lanthimos’ recent film Poor Things dominated the 2023 Venice Film Festival, winning the Golden Lion and securing 11 Academy Award® nominations, with Stone taking home her second Best Actress award.
Kinds of Kindness, his latest work, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and is slated for release on June 21, 2024.
